Gene Davis

April 22, 1920 (age 64)

Washington, District of Columbia, United States

In the late 1940s, even before he decided to become a professional artist, Gene Davis haunted the local museums, particularly the Phillips Collection. The richly colored School of Paris paintings favored by Duncan Phillips were to have a lasting impact on Davis' work, as they did upon Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and other progenitors of the Washington Color School. Gene earned his living as a writer from 1939 to 1968, when he finally was able to devote full time to painting. Davis returned to Washington in 1945 to work as White House correspondent for Transradio Press. He covered the Roosevelt and Truman presidential administrations, and was often President Truman's partner for poker games. Gene's early paintings and drawings, though they show the influence of such artists as the Swiss painter Paul Klee and the American abstractionist Arshile Gorky, display a distinct improvisational quality. This same preference for spontaneity characterizes Davis's selection of color in his later stripe paintings. Despite their calculated appearance, Davis's stripe works were not based on conscious use of theories or formulas. Davis often compared himself to a jazz musician who plays by ear, describing his approach to painting as "playing by eye." In the 1960s and 1970s, Davis began to receive regular invitations to participate in gallery group shows and also solo exhibitions. In 1966 Davis began teaching at the Corcoran School of Art, an appointment which pushed him to continue to innovate and develop, as he claimed he learned as much from his students as they learned from him. His works included in the collections of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

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Photos
Works

Main Photo

Gene Davis

School period

College/University

Gallery of Gene Davis

College Park, Maryland, United States

Gene David studied at the University of Maryland in 1939 - 1942.

Career

Gallery of Gene Davis

Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Gene Davis worked as a teacher at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in 1966.

Achievements

Membership

Awards

Other Photos

Other photo of Gene Davis

College Park, Maryland, United States

Gene David studied at the University of Maryland in 1939 - 1942.

Other photo of Gene Davis

Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Gene Davis worked as a teacher at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in 1966.

Connections

Friend: Jacob Kainen

Jacob Kainen was a friend of Gene Davis.

Connections

Gene Davis Edit Profile

painter

Background

Gene Davis was born on April 22, 1920 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

Education

Gene Davis studied at the University of Maryland in 1939 - 1942.

Career

In the late 1940s, even before he decided to become a professional artist, Gene Davis haunted the local museums, particularly the Phillips Collection. The richly colored School of Paris paintings favored by Duncan Phillips were to have a lasting impact on Davis' work, as they did upon Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and other progenitors of the Washington Color School.

Gene earned his living as a writer from 1939 to 1968, when he finally was able to devote full time to painting. Davis returned to Washington in 1945 to work as White House correspondent for Transradio Press. He covered the Roosevelt and Truman presidential administrations, and was often President Truman's partner for poker games.

Gene's early paintings and drawings, though they show the influence of such artists as the Swiss painter Paul Klee and the American abstractionist Arshile Gorky, display a distinct improvisational quality. This same preference for spontaneity characterizes Davis's selection of color in his later stripe paintings. Despite their calculated appearance, Davis's stripe works were not based on conscious use of theories or formulas. Davis often compared himself to a jazz musician who plays by ear, describing his approach to painting as "playing by eye."

In the 1960s and 1970s, Davis began to receive regular invitations to participate in gallery group shows and also solo exhibitions. In 1966 Davis began teaching at the Corcoran School of Art, an appointment which pushed him to continue to innovate and develop, as he claimed he learned as much from his students as they learned from him. His works included in the collections of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Achievements

Gene Davis is known primarily for the stripe works that span twenty-seven years, but he was a versatile artist who worked in a variety of formats and media. He painted almost two hundred works. In 1974, Davis was awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.

Works

$Limelight\/Sounds of Grass Limelight\/Sounds of Grass$ Sunball Sunball

Alice Tully Hall Sampler Alice Tully Hall Sampler

$Franklin\'s Footpath Franklin\'s Footpath$ Diamond Jim Diamond Jim

$Renoir\'s Curtain Renoir\'s Curtain$ Royal Canoe Royal Canoe

$King\'s Gate King\'s Gate$ Smithsonian Resident Associates Program 1980 (15th Anniversary Poster) Smithsonian Resident Associates Program 1980 (15th Anniversary Poster)

Smithsonian Resident Associates Program 1980 (15th Anniversary Poster) Smithsonian Resident Associates Program 1980 (15th Anniversary Poster)

$Monet\'s Garden Monet\'s Garden$ $Adam\'s Rib Adam\'s Rib$ Birth Birth

Solar Diary (Needle Park) Solar Diary (Needle Park)

$Edges\/Solar Beat Edges\/Solar Beat$ Micro-Painting Micro-Painting

Smithsonian Resident Associate Program Tenth Anniversary Poster Smithsonian Resident Associate Program Tenth Anniversary Poster

Untitled (Pink Stripes-Gray Box) Untitled (Pink Stripes-Gray Box)

Homage to Dubuffet I Homage to Dubuffet I

Untitled (Pink, Yellow and White) Untitled (Pink, Yellow and White)

painting
- Long John
  1968
- Boudoir Painting
  1965
- Limelight/Sounds of Grass
  1960
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Untitled
- Raspberry Icicle
  1967
- Split Beat
  1965
- Checkmate
  1973
- Moroccan Wedding
  1972
- Untitled
- Pumpkin
  1959
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Signal
  1973
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Green Glow
  1958
- Autumn
  1955
- Renoir's Curtain
  1977
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Royal Canoe
  1977
- Firebox
  1964
- Ferris Wheel
  1963
- Untitled
- Orange Twitter
  1966
- Firecracker
  1968
- Two Part Blue
  1964
- Half Lemon
  1969
- Bulletproof
  1969
- King's Gate
  1978
- Equinox
  1965
- Royal Veil
  1971
- Sunball
  1960
- Seascape
  1952
- Tarzan (Series I)
  1969
- Blue Rectangle II
  1958
- Franklin's Footpath
  1972
- Birth
  1981
- King Kong
  1969
- Pin Stripes
  1960
- Lime-Lemon
  1970
- Alice Tully Hall Sampler
  1961
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Inner Space
  1952
- Bird Land
  1952
- Diamond Jim
  1972
- Untitled
- Midnight Watch
  1976
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Untitled
- Leap Frog
  1952
- Cross Fire
  1952
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Flower Machine
  1964
- Untitled #152
  1971
- Untitled
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Untitled (P280)
  1967
- Untitled
- Untitled
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Red Devil
  1959
- Smithsonian Resident Associates Program 1980 (15th Anniversary Poster)
  1980
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Pepper Pot
  1966
- Red Dog
  1961
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Red Baron
- Untitled
- Cold Turkey
- Circus Sounds
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Red Line
  1952
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Ianthe
- Saber Dance
- Ice Box (P506)
- Triple Jump
- Stripes
- Untitled #156
- Citadel
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Two Yellows
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Sweet Carburetor
- Ferris Wheel
- Passion Flower
- Solar Skin
- Untitled
- Red Witch
- Licorice Stick
- Bridge
- Jack-in-the-Box
- Black Friar
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Christmas Tree
  1956
- Lemon Ice
- Peach Glow
- Solar Diary (Needle Park)
- Butterfly
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Black Dahlia
- Niagara
- Treble
- Micro-Painting
- Dr. Peppercorn
- Micro-Painting
- Micro-Painting
- Powwow
- Monet's Garden
  1980
- Green Stripes
- Lincoln Center
- Untitled #150
- Composition I
- Micro-Painting
- Mohawk
- Adam's Rib
  1980
- Battle for Grownups
- Man at the Pump
- Red Chatterbox
- Hot Susan
- Halifax
- Untitled
- Wall Stripes No. 3
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- King Oliver
- Deep Six
- Leaping Horse
- Untitled
- Gothic Jab
- Edges/Solar Beat
- Micro-Painting
- Homage to Newman II
- Hot Beat
- Blue Broad Jump
- Micro-Painting
- Micro-Painting
- Untitled #1
- Barricades
- Micro-Painting
  1968
- Pocahontas
- Micro-Painting
- Black Popcorn
- Banjo
- Micro-Painting
- Smithsonian Resident Associate Program Tenth Anniversary Poster
- Sweet Score-Skylark
- Micro-Painting
- Cannonball
- Micro-Painting
- Green Giant
- Circus
- Pink Stripe
- Salute
- Black Panther
- Black Grey Beat
- Yukon Sonata
- Micro-Painting
- Homage to Newman
- Celtic Dawn
- Micro-Painting
- Bay
- End Stripes
- Apricot Ripple
- Blue Bird
- Red Baron
- Flamingo
- Royal Curtain
- Hummingbird
- Night Patrol
- Micro-Painting
- Meandering
- Prince Albert
- Micro-Painting
- Untitled (Pink Stripes-Gray Box)
- Micro-Painting
- Micro-Painting
- Jumping Jack
- Micro-Painting
- Yoyo
- Micro-Painting
- Tom's Furnace
- Homage to Matisse
- Micro-Painting
- Homage to Dubuffet I
- Angel Vine
- Zebra
- Carousel
- Eskimo Map
- Untitled (Pink, Yellow and White)
- Micro-Painting
- Sour Ball Beat
- Boxcar
- Tree House
- Graf Zeppelin
- Yankee Doodle
- Secret Garden
- Dog and Flowers
- Albatross
- Peeping Wall

Connections

Friend:: Jacob Kainen

References

Gene Davis: A Memorial Exhibition This book shows examples of Davis's stripe, micro, symbolist, and silhouette paintings, and discusses the American artist's life and career.
Gene Davis