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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 |
| 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 |
2001 |
Screen Prints, Broadbent, London
Lives and works in Hertford and Cornwall, England |
| 2000 |
Retrospective: Scottish National Museum of Modern
Art
Retrospective: Cobra Museum, Holland |
| 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 |
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