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Alan Davie
About the artist...
In the more than 60 year long career of Alan Davie, there has never been a clear distinction for him between drawing, painting and printmaking. They are all done in an intuitive, improvised manner. His hands are working on their own and Davie watches what happens.
His activities as a printmaker have been intermittent but concentrated. Until 1999 nearly all his printmaking had been confined to the medium of lithography. Then at the age of 80, he embarked upon a major campaign of screenprinting, working with the master printmaker Kip Gresham at Gresham Studio, near Cambridge.
The subtlety of Davie's drawings pushes the medium to its limits and requires stencils that are very fragile. Therefore the number of prints is small - most of them have been made in short editions of 30 or less.
His screenprints have been formed in four waves, each surge using its own distinct methodology and technical vocabulary. A close collaboration between the artist and the printers has been an essential part of the process.
The nature of the collaboration is very close to Davie's experience
in playing jazz and free form music. All those involved are dependent
on one another and experimentation is at the heart of the activity.
MORE...
Biographical Summary
Born Grangemouth, Scotland, 1920
Lives and works in Hertfordshire and Cornwall, England
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| 2004 |
Jingling Space Tate St Ives |
| 2003 |
How Heavy is Black?, Broadbent, London |
| 2003 |
Retrospective - Jingling Space, Tate
St Ives |
| 2003 |
Recent Paintings amd Goucahes, Gimpel
Fils, London; James Hyman Fine Art, London |
| 2002 |
Broadbent at The Glasgow Art Fair, Scotland
Visiting Professor, University of Brighton School of Art |
2001 |
Screen Prints, Broadbent, London
Retrospective: Cobra Museum, Holland
Lives and works in Hertford and Cornwall, England |
| 2000 |
Retrospective: Scottish National Museum of Modern
Art |
| 1997 |
Drawings retrospective: University of Brighton;
Scottish National Museum of Modern Art |
| 1992-1995 |
British Council touring exhibition: South America
and Australia |
| 1993 |
Retrospective: Barbican Gallery, London |
| 1992 |
Retrospective: Me'Lellan Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland |
| 1991 |
Senior Fellow, Royal College of Art |
| 1979 |
Visit to Australia and Bali |
| 1977 |
Lecturer, Royal College of Art, London |
| 1972 |
Awarded C.B.E. (Commander of the British Empire) |
| 1971-1979 |
Concerts and recordings of Spontaneous Music |
| 1963-1970 |
Experiments in lithography |
| 1962 |
One man show: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
One man show: Bienal Di Sao Paulo, Brazil
Prize for Best Painter |
| 1960-1980 |
Gliding: 2000 hours soaring in England, Switzerland,
USA |
| 1959 |
Teaching: Central School of Arts and Crafts,
London |
| 1958 |
Retrospective: Wakefield City Art Gallery
Retrospective: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London |
| 1956 |
First American show, New York. Subsequently shown
frequently throughout USA |
| 1950 |
First one man show at Gimpel Fils Gallery, London.
Subsequently every two years to date |
| 1949 |
Making Jewellery and Silverware
Jazz musician
birth of daughter Jane |
| 1948-1949 |
Travelled in Europe |
| 1948 |
Exhibitions in Florence, Venice. Paintings bought
by Peggy Guggenheim |
| 1946-1947 |
Jazz musician, married Janet (Billi) Gaul |
| 1941-1946 |
War service, Royal Artillery |
| 1937 |
Edinburgh College of Art |
| 1920 |
Born Grangemouth, Scotland |
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| Selected Recent Solo Shows |
| 2008 |
Alan Davie: Shaman's Enigma, Gimpel Fils,
London &
James Hyman, London
Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin
Galerie Gimpel & Muller, Paris |
| 2007 |
Alan Davie: Paintings 1955-1967, Thomas Dane,
London |
| 2006 |
Alan Davie: Paintings and Drawings 1948-2004,
108 Fine Art, Harrogate |
| 2005 |
Alan Davie: Paintings from the Fifties and Sixties,
Gimpel Fils, London
Alan Davie: A Game of Poetry, Galleria Morone, Milan |
| 2004 |
Alan Davie: The Alchemical Journey, ACA Galleries,
New York
Alan Davie, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Alan Davie, Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University |
| 2003-04 |
Alan Davie: Retrospective, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall |
| 2003 |
Alan Davie: Recent Paintings and Gouaches, Gimpel
Fils, London, & James Hyman, London
Alan Davie in conjunction with Total Music Meeting, Free Music
Production, Alan Davie and Tony Oxley jazz event, Galerie Nothelfer,
Berlin |
| 2002 |
Alan Davie Small Paintings 1949-2000, Howard
Gardens Gallery, University of Wale Institute
Alan Davie: Magical Symbolism, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate |
| 2001 |
Alan Davie: Small Paintings 1949-2000, Touring:
Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, MAC Birmingham,
Gimpel Fils, London
Alan Davie: "Il risveglio della conoscenza intuitiva",
Galleria Morone, Milan |
| 2000 |
Bologna Art Fair, Gimpel Fils
Alan Davie: Small Paintings 1949-2000, University of Brighton
Gallery
Alan Davie, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh |
| 1999 |
Alan Davie: New Work, Gimpel Fils
Alan Davie: Works of the Nineties, UH Galleries, University
of Hertfordshire |
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