Ted Davis (American 1908 - 1995) 20th Century Watercolor Seascape Painting of Monhegan Island, Maine

Description

Ted Davis (New York City, 1908 - 1995) 20th century watercolor seascape painting of Monhegan Island, Maine. Signed and dated … more Ted Davis (New York City, 1908 - 1995) 20th century watercolor seascape painting of Monhegan Island, Maine. Signed and dated 1957. Presented in original linen mat and frame. Measures 16 1/4" x 13 3/4" framed; 10" x 7" sight. Slight staining to margin edge of mat. Presents well.

Ted Davis was born in New York City in 1908 and began his study of art at the Cooper Union Institute in the late 1920s. During the 1930s he was a student of John J. Newman. Following service in World War II, he used the GI Bill to study art in New York City. In the early 1950s he was a student of Hans Hoffman.

From 1948 to 1992 Davis maintained studios in Manhattan and Monhegan Island, Maine. His work was exhibited in: the Annual Exhibitions at the National Society of Painters. His paintings are featured in collections of the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME; the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME; the Olin Arts Center at Bates College, Lewiston, ME; and the Monhegan Museum, Monhegan Island, ME. Davis drew his inspiration from the frenetic energy of New York City where he painted the bustle of the East River, its dock and river traffic.

For nearly fifty years Davis summered on Monhegan Island. From the late 1940s to the end of his life, Davis' work became increasingly abstract, yet always it contained elements of the natural environment. The early work, influenced by Hans Hoffman's "push-pull theory," used Marinesque brush strokes to imply a setting, rather than utterly define it. Ultimately, these brush strokes resolved themselves into the blocks of color. From the 1960s to the 1990s he created prismatic layers of thin color, each layer overlapping and intersecting another.

Ted Davis was a beloved figure on the island. Many collectors and friends were devoted to his work and through him became educated to the world of modernism. His impromptu lectures on the island artists and his insight into art will be remembered for decades. As a painter, his skill was summed up by the painter and The New Yorker cover illustrator, Charles E. Martin, who called him "the best watercolorist on the island!" less