William R. Davis
William R. Davis, born 1952, in Somerville, Massachusetts. For the most part self-educated as a painter, Davis has combined natural artistic ability with a capacity for keen observation of art from the past, an interest in art history, and a willingness to experiment with technique to achieve his own, original, artistic vision.
Until recently Davis built his reputation as a marine artist, specializing in highly detailed yachting and historic schooner scenes. He subsequently discovered landscape and coastal painting initiated on location and has taken these to the extraordinary level of his marine work. He has simultaneously improved the latter by a newly acquired understanding of land and sea as observed in nature.
Davis' response to the land is best depicted in his paintings of twilight and sunrise. He believes this is the best time of day for painters to capture the 'inner state' of a landscape. By reducing nature's elements Davis produces a painterly application over a factual description. Rendering shapes from the natural world as silhouettes, he conveys the atmosphere in subdued color harmonies. In doing so he engages the viewer's imagination alluding to a sense of unity, tranquility, and repose.Davis has been included in the latest edition of E.H.H. Archibald's authoritative volume on Marine Art from the Flemish masters to the present. He has been featured in articles in Cape Cod Life, Art Ideas, American Artist, Fine Art Connoisseur and American Art Collector. He has work in the current traveling Sea to Shining Sea exhibition (scheduled regionally for the Cape Cod Museum of Art, May – July 2007).
nature's elements Davis produces a painterly application over a factual description. Rendering shapes from the natural world as silhouettes, he conveys the atmosphere in subdued color harmonies. In doing so he
Until recently Davis built his reputation as a marine artist, specializing in highly detailed yachting and historic schooner scenes. He subsequently discovered landscape and coastal painting initiated on location and has taken these to the extraordinary level of his marine work. He has simultaneously improved the latter by a newly acquired understanding of land and sea as observed in nature.
Davis' response to the land is best depicted in his paintings of twilight and sunrise. He believes this is the best time of day for painters to capture the 'inner state' of a landscape. By reducing nature's elements Davis produces a painterly application over a factual description. Rendering shapes from the natural world as silhouettes, he conveys the atmosphere in subdued color harmonies. In doing so he engages the viewer's imagination alluding to a sense of unity, tranquility, and repose.Davis has been included in the latest edition of E.H.H. Archibald's authoritative volume on Marine Art from the Flemish masters to the present. He has been featured in articles in Cape Cod Life, Art Ideas, American Artist, Fine Art Connoisseur and American Art Collector. He has work in the current traveling Sea to Shining Sea exhibition (scheduled regionally for the Cape Cod Museum of Art, May – July 2007).
nature's elements Davis produces a painterly application over a factual description. Rendering shapes from the natural world as silhouettes, he conveys the atmosphere in subdued color harmonies. In doing so he
Copyright 2011 The Banks Gallery, LLC, all rights reserved
