William Davis

Once you have seen a painting by William R. Davis, you will understand why he has a national reputation as one of the best marine artists presently working in the United States.  Mr. Davis grew up in Somerville, Massachusetts.  He is a self-taught artist whose oil paintings typically capture the serene light of sunrise or sunset on the water.  He employs many of the techniques traditionally used by American Luminist painters to realize his personal vision, showing a marked preference for 19th century subjects. 

In 1987, William Davis made history with the first one-artist show ever mounted at the prestigious Mystic Maritime Gallery in Mystic, Connecticut.  All twenty of the works featured in that show were sold at the opening reception.  In 1990 and 1999, he received the Mystic Maritime Gallery Award of Excellence. Three of his paintings are featured in the book entitled Shipwrecks Around Boston by noted Cape Cod author, William P. Quinn.  Davis was also included in the latest edition of E.H.H. Archibald’s authoritative volume, Marine Art from the Flemish Masters to the Present.
 
Much of William Davis’ work pays homage to 19th century artists such as James Bard, Martin Johnson Heade,  Antonio Jacobsen and Fitz Henry Lane. He limits himself to about 30 colors in the palette of that period.  He describes his style as “a conglomerate of a number of ideas I saw in other artists with my own refinements.”  Over the years, he has incorporated his fascinations for the different techniques of these artists.  This may be best explained in the words of painter, William Merritt Chase, who is prominently displayed in William Davis’ studio, “The most original painters are those who have stolen here a little and there a little from everyone.  When they arrive at the levels of the masters, they will find that they can do so much better work themselves that they can’t help being original.”

In a tribute to Martin Johnson Heade, which appeared in the July 1991 issue of American Artist magazine, William Davis refers to sunset as “the hour when night usurps day.”  He observes that this is the “best time of day for painters to capture the ‘inner state’ of a landscape” and represents “an unequaled opportunity to sensitize the eye to the delicate mysteries of light and shadow.”  In the September 1992 issue of Soundings, former Mystic Maritime Gallery Director, J. Russell Jinishian, described William Davis by saying, “his work evokes the gentility and natural beauty of the 19th century, a time we look back on with some nostalgia as it was a time less complicated and more civilized.”

William Davis has recently shifted to painting landscapes on location.  In this process, he has converted to plein air painting, partly influenced by his friendship with artists Joseph McGurl and Donald Demers. During 1998, the three friends painted together in various locations throughout New England.  The result of their effort was a show entitled, The New American Luminists Revisit the Native Landscapes, held on Cape Cod.  The three artists have also been invited to paint Yosemite National Park.

In the Spring of 2004, Davis was one of fifty selected artists from different regions of the United States to contribute to the exhibit “From Sea to Shining Sea:  A Reflection of America.”  The show was held at The Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA, and the paintings focused on life in America.

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