ALAN DAVIE (Scotland, 1920-2014).
"Moon dragon on the Wall, 1971.
Oil on canvas.
With information label on the back.
Signed, dated and titled on verso.
Provenance: private collection conceived since the 1970s between London and Madrid.
Measurements: 122 x 152 cm; 124,5 x 155 cm (frame).
Alan Davie was a Scottish artist who was the son of an art teacher and artist who exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1925, Alan Davie studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1937 to 1941. One of the first exhibitions of his work came through the Society of Scottish Artists. After the Second World War, Davie worked with the Tommy Sampson Orchestra, which was based in Edinburgh and broadcast and toured Europe. He also made a living making jewellery in the post-war period. Davie travelled widely and in Venice was influenced by painters of the time, such as Paul Klee, Jackson Pollock and Joan Miró. In particular, his style of painting owes much to his affinity with Zen. Having read Eugen Herrigel's book Zen in the Art of Archery (1953), he assimilated the spontaneity emphasised by Zen, destined to bring in elements from his unconscious.
Like Pollock, many of Davie's works were executed standing on the paint, which was placed on the ground. Despite the speed with which he worked, he insisted that his images have symbolic meaning. Championing the primitive, he saw the role of the artist as similar to that of the shaman, and commented on how disparate cultures have adopted common symbols in their visual languages. In addition to painting, whether on canvas or paper, Davie produced several silkscreen prints. In his lectures, Davie emphasised the importance of improvisation as his chosen method. His stance was that of an inspired soothsayer resisting the incursions of rational civilisation. In the early 1970s, his interest in free improvisation led to a close association with percussionist Tony Oxley. Art collections and museums holding works by Alan Davie include the Art Institute of Chicago, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Galleries of Scotland, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Tate Gallery, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Brauer Art Museum of Valparaiso University, Fred Jones Jr. Art Museum at the University of Oklahoma, Harvard University Art Museums, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Mildred Lane Kemper Museum of Art, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, The Priseman Seabrook Collection, San Diego Museum of Art, Southampton City Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield and Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum.