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Alan Davie
Alan Davie was born in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1920. Davie began his career as a poet and jazz musician before becoming a painter, combining these disciplines throughout the rest of his career. Harnessing his engagement with jazz, Zen Buddhism, Jung and the art of ancient cultures, Davie’s innovative drawings and paintings are the result of a highly improvisatory process that places emphasis on free association and artistic intuition.
For over 65 years Davie exhibited in the UK and internationally, with work held in many of the world’s major public collections including MoMA, New York; Tate, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London and The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. He died in 2014, aged 93 in Hertfordshire, just prior to a display of his work curated by Helen Little opened at Tate Britain.
Alan Davie: Chronology
1920
Born Grangemouth, Scotland. Son of painter Cedric Davie and musician Elizabeth.
1937 – 40
Edinburgh College of Art.
1941
War service in the Royal Artillery.
1942
Received Guthrie Award for the best painting by a young artist at the Royal Scottish Academy summer exhibition.
1943
Reads Whitman’s Leaves of Grass; also Eliot, Pound, Lawrence, Joyce, Chinese poems. Begins to write poetry and plays saxophone in jazz groups.
1946
First one-man exhibition in Edinburgh. Visits London and sees African sculpture at Berkeley Galleries, significant interest in primitive art begins.
1947
Becomes full time jazz tenor saxophonist playing with Tommy Sampson’s Orchestra touring and broadcasting. October – marries Janet (Bili) Gaul, an artist-potter. Begins making and selling jewellery.
1948 – 9
Travels extensively in Europe. Contact with Peggy Guggenheim who buys work and fosters his future career. Relationship with Gimpel Fils Gallery through Charles and Peter Gimpel after introduction letter from Peggy Guggenheim. Birth of daughter.
1950
First one-man exhibition at Gimpel Fils.
1951
Jewellery worn by Vivien Leigh in Anthony and Cleopatra.
1954
Converted a stable block at Gamel’s, Rush Green, near Hertford into a house with working studio.
First time ‘primitive’ sources appeared in his work.
1955
Develops interest in Zen Buddhism and oriental mysticism.
1956
Winning international recognition. Visited New York for first US one-man exhibition at Catherine Viviano Gallery – exhibition sells out. Paintings purchased by Museum of Modern Art. Meets Pollock, Kline, De Kooning, Motherwell and Rothko. Excited by indigenous art at American Natural History Museum. Awarded Gregory Fellowship in Painting at the University of Leeds (until 1959) and becomes Visiting Tutor at Leeds College of Art.
1957
Elected a member of the London Group of artists.
1958
Retrospective at Wakefield, transferred to Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. purchased by Tate Gallery.
1959
Permanently resident in Hertfordshire and in cottage in Cornwall. Teaching at Central School of Arts and Crafts.
1960
Takes up gliding.
1963
One-man exhibition in British section of Sao Paulo Bienal, Brazil – awarded prize for best foreign painter.
1966
Work features in Antonioni’s film Blow Up.
1967
Alan Davie, edited by Alan Bowness published.
1971
Invited to produce poster for Munich Olympic Games.
1972
3 records published. Awarded CBE in Queen’s Birthday Honours.
1974
Buys ‘pole house’ with walls that folded back, overlooking sea in Coulibri, St Lucia, Caribbean.
1975
Developed interest in pre-historic petroglyphs and visited these in St Lucia and Venezuela.
1979
Visit to Australia, exhibition in Sydney. Lectures in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, inspired by Aboriginal art seen there.
1984
Developed interest in Jain cosmology and its images which were developed into series of paintings.
1987
Invited by Niki de Saint Phalle to paint a mural in the interior of the head of Il Mago (magician) in her Tarot garden in Garavicchio, Tuscany.
1989
visited Venezuela after contact with Jeannine Sujo Volsky and inspired by her book on drawn Carib petroglyphs. Went to Caracas and visited villages.
1990
Undertakes series of Hopi Studies paintings and gouaches, inspired by a book on American Indian Hopi pottery.
1991
Royal College of Art Convocation: Senior Fellow; lecture at Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol – Nature of Colour Conference organized by Richard Bright.
1993
Retrospectives at Barbican Gallery in London and also Chicago.
1996
Makes 50 black gouache drawings for Charles Booth-Clibborn for a limited edition version of Alan Davie Drawings published by Paragon Press.
2000
Retrospective at Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.
2009
Death of Bili
2012
Elected Senior Royal Academician.
2014
Alan Davie dies on 5 April. Tate Britain exhibition opens 14 April.
Sources
Elliott, Patrick (2000) Alan Davie Work in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland)
Hall, D and Tucker, M in collaboration with Alan Davie, Bili Davie and Gimpel Fils (1992) Alan Davie (London: Lund Humphries )
Hudson, Mark Obituary of Alan Davie (6 April 2014) Telegraph
Tucker, Michael (ed) (1993) Alan Davie The Quest for the Miraculous (London: Lund Humphries)
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