Public art and the perils of canonization: the case of Swing Landscape by Stuart Davis.

The article examines public art and the risk of canonization by considering the case of "Swing Landscape, a mural completed by U.S. artist Stuart Davis in 1938. Topics covered include the positive criticism received by the mural from art historians and critics, art critic Edward Alden Jewell's rejection of the mural, and its eventual canonization which began as early as 1945.