Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller

Ken Davies
"Doorway" Ken Davies, Realist House Porch Architecture

circa 1970

About the Item

Ken Davies Doorway, circa 1970 Signed lower left Oil on board 11 x 15 inches Provenance: The Heritage Gallery Inc., Columbus, Ohio, 1975 Private Collection, Columbus Acquired from the estate of the above Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Kenneth Davies became a noted still-life painter and long-time art teacher, living in Madison, Connecticut. He was also Dean of the Paier School of Art* in New Haven. As a commercial artist, he created the logo for Wild Turkey bourbon. He attended the Massachusetts School of Art in Boston, and after two years in the Army, studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts*, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1950. His teaching career began at the Whitney School of Art and continued at the Paier School in New Haven, Connecticut where he served as Dean. At the time of a retrospective exhibition titled, "Ken Davies: 35 Years, A New Bedford Homecoming," Richard Kugler, Director, Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts, wrote: "His subjects are very much his own, carefully organized and precisely rendered. So, too, is the mastery with which he brings us familiar objects freshly seen. His impish wit lies close to the surface; his confidence in his craft is everywhere apparent." A reviewer in Art Digest, wrote: "Kenneth Davies' trompe l'oeil* paintings exhibit a visual observation so acute and a technical handling so precise that the spectator is not willing to give up the illusion that he can actually grasp a pencil or tear a piece from a torn envelope until he is within a foot of the canvas." Davies describes his personal history with the following account: "In the early years, I did three pieces of work that were major milestones for me and which have determined the course of my painting career. The first of the three was a drawing I did in the fourth grade. My teacher, Miss Sweeney, had decided to turn an art assignment into a class competition. I'm not sure why, but I decided to draw a cow. This "masterpiece" has long since disappeared, but I remember working very hard on it and when it was finished, I remember being very proud of it. I thought I had a rather elegant cow and that she stood a very good chance of winning a prize in the competition. My impatient wait for the results of the judging seemed endless but, finally, Miss Sweney announced her decision--Ken Davies had won first prize! I was ecstatic. Up to that time, I had been just another dull little kid in the fourth grade, but now, with a mere sweep of my HB pencil, I was an overnight celebrity! This was pretty heady stuff, and it became obvious to me that my lifework would now be in art. The only career I had seriously considered before this auspicious moment was that of a garbage man (I was very impressed with the trucks they drove.) But now, here was something that excited me even more. Thanks to Miss Sweeney's impeccable judgement, the art world was about to be invaded by the best artist in the fourth-grade class at the H.A. Kempton School! That was how it really started, and since then I haven't had a serious interest in any other career." Davies describes his second significant work as his first oil painting, declaring the medium "love at first sight" after struggling with watercolor. His third significant work, done while he was a student at Yale, determined that he was going to be a still-life painter, and sparked his interest in trompe l'oeil effects, the history of which was the subject of his B.F.A. thesis.
  • Creator:
    Ken Davies (1925)
  • Creation Year:
    circa 1970
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1841212707522
More From This SellerView All
  • "Vermont Landscape with Birch Trees" Luigi Lucioni, Realist Forest Scene
    By Luigi Lucioni
    Located in New York, NY
    Luigi Lucioni Vermont Landscape with Birch Trees, 1936 Signed and dated lower left and inscribed indistinctly verso Oil on board 20 x 15 7/8 inche...
    Category

    1930s Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • "Sunlit Landscape, " Lawton Silas Parker, Impressionist Landscape
    Located in New York, NY
    Lawton Parker Sunlit Landscape, circa 1910 Oil on board 10 x 12 inches Provenance: Adamson-Duvannes Galleries, Los Angeles Goldfield Galleries, Los Ange...
    Category

    1910s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • "Prospect Park, Brooklyn, " Nathan Hoffman, New York City Impressionist Landscape
    Located in New York, NY
    Born in Russia, the son of Friede (1878 – 1956) and Benjamin Hoffman (1878 – a. 1942). Benjamin was a dealer in mineral and seltzer water and the family resided on Snediker Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, just down the streetfrom the home where George Gershwin (1898 – 1937) was born. This area of Brooklyn, known as Brownsville, “witnessed the development of one of the largest communities of Eastern European Jewish immigrants during the last decade of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20 th century.” Today, little remains of this once thriving Jewish section of Brooklyn, which today houses many commercial and repair businesses. Hoffman studied at the Art Students League of New York, the National Academy of Design and in the art program at Cooper Union. His work at the National Academy received praise, and in 1921 he was awarded the 2nd prize and an honorable mention from the John Armstrong Chaloner Paris Prize Foundation at the National Academy, which allowed the recipient to study in Paris, France for as long as five years. The following year he was awarded the 1 st prize in the competition (with The Reform Advocate running the headline “Young Jew Wins Art Prize”) as well as the Suydam Bronze Medal for his achievements in the Academy’s Men’s Night Class. In 1923 he was residing in Long Branch, New Jersey, when he was awarded 4th place in the Chaloner competition. Early on, Hoffman exhibited his work throughout the city, including in 1925 with the recently organized Society of Independent Artists. He also received several solo exhibitions during the first part of his career, including one at Ferargil Galleries in 1929. In the spring of 1930 a solo exhibition of his portraits, including paintings and drawings, was held at at Babcock Galleries, where a reviewer noted: “Portraiture is obviously Mr. Hoffman’s specialty… his best work is characterized by a sensitive appreciation of character set down in a vigorous decisive statement. Later that same year, in August, he participated in Babcock’s summer exhibition where reviewer Jerome Klein, writing for The Baltimore Sun, felt Hoffman’s and other artists work was already becoming old fashioned, remarking “…if an effort toward accomplishment is to be made, it must be in the language of today. It is for that reason that such contemporaries as Eugene Higgins and Nathan Hoffman, in this show, seem artists of a bygone era…” The onset of the Great Depression appears to have slowed his success, as was the case for many up-and-coming artists. By 1939 Hoffman had become a gallerist in addition to being a painter, operating the collective exhibition space “Sutton Gallery,” which was originally located at 358 East 57th Street. There Hoffman exhibited his own works as well as those created by other prominent New York artists including David Burliuk (1882 – 1967), Charles C. Curran (1861 – 1942), Louis Eilshemius (1864 – 1941), Ann Goldthwaite (1869 – 1944), Maurice Kish (1895 – 1987), Lawrence Lebduska (1894 – 1966), Bradford Perin and Ellis Wilson...
    Category

    1940s Post-Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • "Bucks County Landscape" George Sotter, Pennsylvania Impressionism, River View
    By George William Sotter
    Located in New York, NY
    George Sotter Bucks County Landscape, 1908 Signed Lower Right: Sotter 08; signed on the reverse: G. W. Sotter Oil on artist board 12 x 9 inches Born in Pittsburgh in 1879 to Nicholas and Katherine Sotter, George William Sotter painted the rivers and mills of that city in his early youth. He apprenticed with several stained-glass studios there prior to becoming a partner in the studio of Horace Rudy in Pittsburgh around 1901. He took leave from the studio and came to Bucks County in 1902, to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as well as with Edward W. Redfield, the premier painter of the New Hope School. In 1903, he participated in the annual exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He continued his studies at the Academy from 1905 – 1907 under William Merritt Chase and Thomas Anshutz. George William Sotter lived in Holicong, Pennsylvania, near New Hope, in a converted 19th Century stone barn. There, in his studio, he painted landscape scenes of Bucks County, which link Sotter to the New Hope School of American Impressionism...
    Category

    Early 1900s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • "Byram Lake, New York" David Johnson, Hudson River School Landscape, Westchester
    By David Johnson
    Located in New York, NY
    David Johnson Byram Lake, New York Monogrammed lower right; signed and titled on the reverse Oil on board 7 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches A landscape painter based in New York City and associ...
    Category

    Late 19th Century Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • "Brighton Beach, August 5" Nathan Hoffman, Brooklyn, Impressionist, Sunny Day
    Located in New York, NY
    Nathan Hoffman Brighton Beach, August 5, 1941 Signed, titled, dated and estate stamped on the reverse Oil on board 9 3/4 x 14 inches Born in Russia, th...
    Category

    1940s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Board, Oil

You May Also Like
  • The Watchers, Dakota Indians
    Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
    Signed lower right. Nick Eggenhofer was one of the most popular illustrators of western story magazines and books in America from the 1920s to 1940s. ...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Board, Oil

  • Sailboats and Sailing Ship in Seascape early 20th Century Oil Painting Framed
    Located in Stockholm, SE
    This artwork showcases the beauty of sailing boats and ships sailing gracefully on the sea waters. The artist's attention to detail is evident in the intricate depiction of the ships...
    Category

    Early 20th Century Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Wood, Oil, Cardboard

  • September - XXI Century, Contemporary Landscape Oil Painting Warm tones, Realism
    By Janusz Szpyt
    Located in Warsaw, PL
    Janusz Szpyt was born in 1960, he is a Polish painter. He graduated from the Graphic design faculty and painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. 1983 onward, he became the m...
    Category

    2010s Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Syros Coast - XXI Century, Contemporary Landscape Oil Painting, Realism
    By Janusz Szpyt
    Located in Warsaw, PL
    Janusz Szpyt was born in 1960, he is a Polish painter. He graduated from the Graphic design faculty and painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. 1983 onward, he became the m...
    Category

    2010s Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Cracow - Contemporary Cityscape Oil Painting, Realism, Architecture, Figurative
    By Janusz Szpyt
    Located in Warsaw, PL
    Janusz Szpyt was born in 1960, he is a Polish painter. He graduated from the Graphic design faculty and painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. 1983 onward, he became the m...
    Category

    2010s Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Sunset - XXI Century, Contemporary Landscape Oil Painting, Realistic
    By Janusz Szpyt
    Located in Warsaw, PL
    Janusz Szpyt was born in 1960, he is a Polish painter. He graduated from the Graphic design faculty and painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. 1983 onward, he became the m...
    Category

    2010s Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

Recently Viewed

View All