Dionysos 

Arthur Bowen Davies painted 'Dionysos' in America at the beginning of the twentieth century. The classical subject matter is unmistakable, yet Davies’s treatment also reflects contemporary cultural anxieties. In the figure of Dionysos, we see the god of wine and ecstasy surrounded by nude figures in an idealized landscape. This return to classical themes occurred at a time when American society was rapidly industrializing and urbanizing. Artists like Davies saw classical mythology as a source of timeless beauty and harmony, a refuge from the perceived ugliness and chaos of modern life. But this was also the period of the Harlem Renaissance. Davies’s classicism might be seen as a retreat from urgent contemporary issues such as racial injustice and economic inequality. To fully understand the social and institutional position of the artist, we might ask: who was buying this kind of art, and what did it mean to them? By exploring exhibition records, collectors' correspondence, and period criticism, we can better understand the complex relationship between art and society.