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The Intimate Landscape of Charles Harold Davis
October 11 - November 10, 2007
Opening reception: Thursday, October 11, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York
24 East 78th Street
New York, NY 10075
TEL 212 628-9760 FAX 212.628.9635
Hours: Monday- Friday
10am - 5pm
or by appointment
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For further information contact:
Gerold Wunderlich
Director
(212) 628-9760
gwunderlich@gpgallery.com
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The Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, will be exhibiting the paintings of Charles Harold Davis (1856-1933), in a show entitled, The Intimate Landscape of Charles Harold Davis, to be held at the Peters Gallery in New York from October 11 through November 10, 2007. The exhibition, in cooperation with the descendents of the artist, will include works from his early “French” period, to his later work painted in Mystic, Connecticut. A 40 page, color illustrated catalogue has been published to accompany the show and includes a scholarly essay by Dr. Valerie Leeds on the Davis’s career.
Charles Harold Davis, known at the “Painter of American Skies” was one of the finest and most celebrated landscape painters of his day. He was more than a painter of “Clouds” as seen in his overall development in a long and active career. He was represented in prestigious Galleries in both New York and Boston; he received numerous awards and honors, and generally laudatory critical comments; he had successful solo exhibitions, won numerous awards and honors, and his work was acquired by prominent museums. During a career, which spanned considerable change in American art, he remained committed to representations of nature.
Originally apprenticed to a carriage maker as a youth, Davis became an accomplished draughtsman in his spare time. After four years he left his job to pursue an artistic career after viewing some drawings by Jean-Francois Millet at the Boston Athenaeum. Initially, he studied at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston with Otto Grundman. By the means of a generous benefactor, in 1880, Davis traveled to Paris, to refine his skills of the human form at Academe Julian, under Jules-Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger. While traveling to the Barbizon region he became so captivated by the surrounding beauty of the landscape that he abandoned his formal coursework. He soon married a French woman and settled in the village of Fleury, where he remained for the next decade, creating pure Barbizon compositions.
Davis’ near religious reverence for nature was manifested in his lifelong dedication to landscape. Careful modulated light effects, a limited tonal range, and nearly invisible brushwork characterize his early paintings such as Moonlight, 1889. He exhibited paintings at the French Salon, as well as back in the United States at his gallery, Doll & Richards back in Boston. He sent painting back home to be exhibited at the Art institute of Chicago, the Boston Atheneum, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, as well.
In 1891, Davis returned to America and settled in Mystic, Connecticut. He began a new approach to his work; he painted expansive skies with low horizons and stratus cloud formations. His paintings such as, Over the Uplands, and Return of Spring were so meteorologically accurate that they became known as “Davis Skies.” Davis became a leading member of the local artists colony and a founder of the Mystic Art Association. He became a member of the National Academy in 1901, and a full academician in 1906. By 1906, he had his first of many exhibitions at New York’s prestigious Macbeth Galleries. He was declared, “one of the most eminent of living American landscape painters” by William Howe Downes.
By the late teens, Davis became under the influence on Impressionism, by using brighter colors, and more vigorous brushwork. Notably, he painted bright seasonal landscapes. He was favorably compared to other landscape painters such as John Henry Twachtman, George Inness and Theodore Robinson. Macbeth continued to support his market and in 1922 he was honored with a major solo exhibition in celebration of Macbeth’s 30th anniversary.
The show consists of approximately 30 paintings by Davis, several borrowed from prominent private and museum collections exploring all aspects of his career. This will be the first important exhibition of the art of Charles Harold Davis since an exhibition held at the Mystic Art Center in the early 1980’s. A catalog entitled, The Intimate Landscape of Charles Harold Davis is available for $15.
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