"Figure Composition" Arthur B. Davies, Figurative, The Eight, Armory Show
By Arthur Bowen Davies
Located in New York, NY
Arthur B. Davies
Figure Composition, circa 1910
Oil on canvas
6 x 12 inches
Provenance:
The artist
Feragil Gallery, New York
Marguerite Ward Smith & LeRoy P. Ward
Wesleyan University (gift from the above)
Christie's East, American Paintings, December 2, 1992, Lot 369
Private Collection, Scarsdale, New York
Arthur B. Davies was pivotal in organizing the groundbreaking 1913 Armory Show, bringing avant gard European artists to America: Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Alexander Archipenko, Odilon Redon, Georges Braque, Georges Rouault, Marcel Duchamp, Frances Picabia, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Mary Cassatt, Manet, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, James McNeill Whistler. The Armory show brought Symbolism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism, and Cubism to American artists and collectors visiting its three venues in the 'New World'; New York, Chicago and Boston.
Davies was himself, a painter more attached late 19th century French influences, particularly the stylized, symbolist works of Puvis de Chavannes. He was a muralist and printmaker of visionary landscapes inhabited by dreamy, Arcadian figures, whose works found great support among collectors as can be seen by the enormous list of museums with his collected his works - but who will forever by remembered for his role in introducing modernism to America.
Born in Utica, New York, Davies showed an early interest in mechanics, sports and art. He first studied privately with Dwight Williams...
Category
1910s Symbolist Arthur Bowen Davies Art