Skip to main content

David Hicks Art

American, b. 1977

Let there be no doubt about it, suave as he was, with his bespoke suits, slicked-back hair and patrician good looks, David Nightingale Hicks (1929–98) was a committed revolutionary. Composing rooms of arresting opulence through his magisterial orchestration of cacophonous colors and patterns, Italian modern mixed with Louis XV furnishings and counterintuitive plays of scale, he forever rocked the stately world of interior design.

As a zealot of style, he took no prisoners. “Dedication to design means ruthless criticism and losing friends,” he once declared. He was not exaggerating. His wife claimed that he conceived his signature high-gloss brown walls as a result of her throwing glasses of Coca-Cola at him during their alarmingly frequent marital spats.

By the time he was 25, Hicks, who had attended London’s Central School of Art and Design and endured a couple of arid years in the art department of the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, had the crème de la crème of London society as clients — and he was being entertained by them! Within a few years, he was courting Lady Pamela Mountbatten, the daughter of Lord Mountbatten, the last British viceroy of India, and the uncle of Prince Phillip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband. They married in 1960 and acquired Britwell, a Georgian pile in Oxfordshire, which became the family seat, design lab and showplace.

The first truly modern interior Hicks ever designed was Lord John Cholmondeley’s penthouse overlooking Hyde Park, in 1967. The graphic boldness of the scheme — brightly colored walls outlined in dark hues and dynamic geometric-patterned carpets — echoed the energy and attitude of the hard-edge painting that was then at the fore. Here, as in all his interiors, he included what he called “tablescapes,” vignettes of artfully arranged objects and artworks that added interest and life to the room. They were soon widely copied. Another landmark interior came in the early 1970s, when he revived Baronscourt, a grand neoclassical house in Northern Ireland, by giving it an entirely contemporary decor.

In addition to his immense creative talent, Hicks had a keen entrepreneurial acumen and vision. While he could have made a fine business simply designing grand homes for the wealthy and titled, he expanded his studio to include offices, boutiques, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs. He had showrooms all over the world, and he embarked on licensing agreements for ranges of vividly hued, geometric-patterned sheets and towels, clothes, umbrellas and bags.

The British designer was as daring as he was debonair, deploying a brazen mix of colors and patterns that came to define the groovy-glamorous interiors of the Swinging Sixties.

Find David Hicks furniture on 1stDibs.

to
1
2
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
8,889
2,810
1,329
1,315
2
2
1
Artist: David Hicks
Fine Victorian Scottish Loch Scene with Mountains, Signed Antique Oil Painting
By David Hicks
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: David Hicks, British late 19th century, signed Title: The Scottish Highlands Medium: signed oil painting on canvas, oak wood framed Size: framed: 27.5 x 23.5 inch...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian David Hicks Art

Materials

Oil

"Fishing"
By David Hicks
Located in Warren, NJ
Oil painting on canvas measures 28x25x2 signed in good condition Comes on with light International buyers must cover shipping expense
Category

21st Century and Contemporary David Hicks Art

Materials

Canvas

"David Hicks On... Bathrooms, Decoration With Fabrics, And Decoration- 5" w/ DH
By David Hicks
Located in Bristol, CT
(1) David Hicks on Decoration- 5 [168] pp. Britwell Books 1972 (2) David Hicks on Decoration- With Fabrics World Publishing 1971 (3) David Hicks on Bathrooms [151] pp. Britwell Boo...
Category

1970s David Hicks Art

Materials

Paper

Related Items
Rabbit Trial Proof 3
Located in Nashville, TN
"Rabbit Trial Proof 3" is a unique 2-color, trial-proof screen print on paper by AI artist Tom White. This piece was created using neural networks trained on images of real rabbits t...
Category

2010s Abstract David Hicks Art

Materials

Paper, Ink, Screen

"Mountain Road, " Oil Painting
By Samantha Buller
Located in Denver, CO
Samantha Buller's (US based) "Mountain Road" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a red roof of a building and the road that runs alongsi...
Category

2010s Realist David Hicks Art

Materials

Oil

KAWS Hand Signed Book Contemporary Street Art
By KAWS
Located in Draper, UT
The definitive study of the work of KAWS, one of the most influential and much-loved forces in contemporary art and culture. This edition has been signed by KAWS. KAWS is one of the...
Category

2010s Contemporary David Hicks Art

Materials

Archival Paper

"Nude I&II" - limited edition finest quality - color photograph - set of two
By Ksenia Kokovashina
Located in Winterswijk, NL
Kseniia Kokovashina - "Nude I&II" set of two. Beautiful limited edition art photography. Printable in colour or black/white. Editions: 20. Tec...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist David Hicks Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Victorian still lives of fruit and Plums on a mossy bank landscape
By Oliver Clare
Located in Woodbury, CT
This exquisite painting by renowned Victorian English artist Oliver Clare beautifully captures a vibrant still life of fruit on a mossy bank. The composition is a testament to Clar...
Category

1880s Victorian David Hicks Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

1925 ARTS n CRAFT IMPRESSIONIST Garden Landscape Painting possibly KENTUCKY
By Frank von der Lancken
Located in New York, NY
Frank von der Lancken was a Brooklyn-born artist and teacher who chose to travel beyond the limits of New York to cultivate the arts across America. Indeed, by his death in 1950, von...
Category

1920s American Impressionist David Hicks Art

Materials

Oil

Victorian vintage art by Vincent Clare - Oil Composition with flowers and a nest
By Vincent Clare
Located in PARIS, FR
Conditions : Excellent overall Condition. Framed under glass original. Free US CONTINENTAL shipping, incl Europe and Asia. The Clare family, Victorian artists, specialised and becam...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian David Hicks Art

Materials

Oil

WPA Landscape American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern Farm Rural
By James McCracken
Located in New York, NY
WPA Landscape American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern Farm Rural James McCracken (1875 – 1967) WPA Landscape 28 x 36 inches Oil on canvas, c. 1930s Signed lower right ...
Category

1930s American Modern David Hicks Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Victorian antique English still life of flowers, birds nest, eggs in a garden
By Henry John Livens
Located in Woodbury, CT
Henry John Livens was born in 1858, in St Pancras, London the direct descendant of Jan Liebens who had left his native Holland in the 1600’s to paint a portrait of the King and subse...
Category

1890s Victorian David Hicks Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Multitude of Orchids Light and Shadow 36" x 30" oil acrylic TexaGarden
By Ellen Hart
Located in Houston, TX
Black Orchid by Ellen Hart Oil / Acrylic / Canvas 36" x 30" Look for Free Shipping at Checkout Black Orchid by Ellen Hart is part of the Shadow series. Ellen Hart lives in Houston,...
Category

2010s Abstract Impressionist David Hicks Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

"Sleeping Giants, " Oil painting
By Judd Mercer
Located in Denver, CO
Judd Mercer's (US based) "Sleeping Giants," is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts an elevated view of a dense urban city packed with various architecture and buildings t...
Category

2010s Impressionist David Hicks Art

Materials

Oil

Confidence- 21st Century Contemporary Portrait of a Boy with Bare chest
By David van der Linden
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
David van der Linden 'Confidence' 60 x 60 cm ( Framed in black wooden frame, included in price, 70 x 70 cm) Oil on canvas 2024 Artist David van der Linden has a hard time to paint...
Category

2010s Contemporary David Hicks Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Previously Available Items
Fine Antique Scottish Highland Loch & Mountains Landscape, Signed Oil Painting
By David Hicks
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: David Hicks, British late 19th century, signed Title: The Scottish Highlands Medium: signed oil painting on canvas, oak wood framed Size: framed: 27.5 x 23.5 inch...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian David Hicks Art

Materials

Oil

David Hicks art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic David Hicks art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of orange and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by David Hicks in canvas, fabric, oil paint and more. Not every interior allows for large David Hicks art, so small editions measuring 7 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Frank Hider, Philip Rideout, and Frederick George Cotman. David Hicks art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,500 and tops out at $2,000, while the average work can sell for $1,630.

Artists Similar to David Hicks

Recently Viewed

View All