Alan Davie (British b. 1920)
Davie was the first British painter - and perhaps the first of all European artists - to realise the vitality and significance of American Abstract Expressionism.
Having seen the Jackson Pollock paintings from Peggy Guggenheim's collection in Venice in 1948, Davie was inspired to begin painting on a much larger scale, in an improvisatory way, with a vigorous, aggressive handling of paint. In 1950 he abandoned the human body as a measuring stick - from now on, the latter, when it appeared, was in such a divided state that it was hardly identifiable - assuming an intrinsic dimension, a step away from reality. His compositions, based on the authority of the features, similar to those of Klee enabled the painting to truly occupy the entirety of the plane. Alan Davie added to a concentration of colour - already a remarkable feature in Pollock's work before 1945- the possibility of recognizing shapes, suggestions of movement and primitive, magical rituals.
Through repetition and gradual transformation, his shapes became purer over the years. His motifs became outlined and independent. During the 1960s they take strength in their biomorphism, but the geometric feature nevertheless regains its fervour, perhaps as the descendant of the Celtic plastic tendencies, with their linear simplicity, leading to a decorative abstraction, which in the end flirts with a surrealistic illustration.
The symbolic fields visited in the 1960s and up to the 1977 represent a cosmopolitan and purposely enigmatic cultural journey. Shapes from primitive art intermingle with Christian illustrations and Egyptian signs. Zen symbolism converses with an imagery of psychoanalytical archetypes - playing with initials, genital symbolism - or elements drawn from heraldry. The very substance of Davie's work is the construction of this allegorical 'flux', evidence of his visionary power.
Public collections include
Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice
Manchester City Art Gallery, Manchester
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Tate Collection, London
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Museu de Arte Contemporanea, SPaulo
Selected Recent Solo Exhibition
2010, Night Gems, Gimpel Fils, London
2009, The Creative World of Alan Davie, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh; Alan Davie, 108 Fine Art, Harrogate
2008, Alan Davie: Shamans Enigma, Gimpel Fils, London & James Hyman, London; Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin; Galerie Gimpel & Muller, Paris
2007, Alan Davie: Paintings 1955-1967, Thomas Dane, London
2006, Alan Davie: Paintings and Drawings 1948-2004, 108 Fine Art, Harrogate
2005, Alan Davie: Paintings from the Fifties and Sixties, Gimpel Fils, London; Alan Davie: A Game of Poetry, Galleria Morone, Milan
2004, Alan Davie: The Alchemical Journey, ACA Galleries, New York; Alan Davie, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh; Alan Davie, Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University
2003-04, Alan Davie: Retrospective, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall
2003, Alan Davie: Recent Paintings and Gouaches, Gimpel Fils, London, & James Hyman, London; Alan Davie in conjunction with Total Music Meeting, Free Music Production, Alan Davie and Tony Oxley jazz event, Galerie Nothelfer, Berlin
2002, Alan Davie Small Paintings 1949-2000, Howard Gardens Gallery, University of Wale Institute; Alan Davie: Magical Symbolism, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate
2001, Alan Davie: Small Paintings 1949-2000, Touring: Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, MAC Birmingham, Gimpel Fils, London; Alan Davie: "Il risveglio della conoscenza intuitiva", Galleria Morone, Milan
2000, Alan Davie: Small Paintings 1949-2000, University of Brighton Gallery; Alan Davie, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
1999, Alan Davie: New Work, Gimpel Fils; Alan Davie: Works of the Nineties, UH Galleries, University of Hertfordshire
1998, Alan Davie: Paintings 1993-1998, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney; Alan Davie: Works on Paper, Faggionato Fine Arts, London
1997, Alan Davie: Recent Gouaches, Gimpel Fils, London, Alan Davie, ACA Galleries, New York; Alan Davie: Drawings, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; University of Brighton Gallery, Sussex Art Junction, France
1996, The First Years, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow; Alan Davie: A Microcosm, Pallant House, Chichester
1995, Alan Davie, Gimpel Fils, London
1994, University of Brighton Gallery, subsequently touring to Hastings Museum and Art Gallery; Ramsgate Gallery, The University Gallery, University of Northumbria at Newcastle; The University Gallery, Nottingham; The Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling; Barbican Art Gallery, London; Tel Aviv, Bineth Gallery; Munich, ACA Galleries; Porto, Galeria Fernando Santos
1993, A RetrospectiveThe Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland; Eva Cohon Gallery, Chicago; Alan Davie: The Quest for the Miraculous, ACA Galleries, New York
1992, The Alan Davie Retrospective - 1937 to the Present, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow, touring to Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. Talbot Rice Art Gallery, Edinburgh and British Council touring to Brussels and South America
1991, Triennale Grafiki Krakow, Poland; Wolf At The Door, Penzance: Recent Paintings, Cornwall; Alan Davie: Recent Work, Gimpel Fils, London; Galerie Bork, Copenhagen,
1990, Alan Davie in the 70's, Galleri G, Helsingborg, Sweden
