HAROLD CHRISTOPHER DAVIES (1891 – 1976) USA

Pacific seascape c.1915

Oil on canvas

Marks: HHG #4010, Hoover Gallery, 1681 Folson Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 (on wooden stretcher), the estate mark of the Harold Christopher Davies estate is on the reverse of the canvas

Exhibited: Hoover Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1975

For more information: Harold Christopher Davies 1891-1976: A Retrospective Exhibition (Stockton, CA: The Haggin Museum, 1982); Susan Landauer: The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism (Berkeley/Los Angeles, CA and London, UK: University of California Press, Laguna Beach, CA: Laguna Art Museum, 1996)p. 8;Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980: An Illustrated History (Berkeley, CA: University California Press, 1985)

H: 16” x W: 20”

Framed: H: 27 11/16” x W: 23 5/8”

Born in Seattle, WA on May 26, 1891, the Davies family moved to Cherrydale, VA when Harold was an infant. Davies began his formal art education at the age of fourteen, enrolling in the Corcoran Art Institute in Washington, D.C.  Later he continued his studies at the San Francisco Institute of Art.

The talent of Harold Christopher Davies was evident in his early California Impressionist landscapes such as this Pacific Ocean seascape which demonstrates his remarkable use of color and the bravura of his brushstrokes. An Abstract Expressionist, his later works are similar to those of De Kooning and Hans Hofmann. Harold Christopher Davies was a member of the Oakland Art League, the San Francisco Art Association and the Huntsville (Ala.) Art Association.

 After living in a variety of cities around the United States, Davies moved to Inverness, California in 1969 where he was free to devote all his time to his art.

Exhibitions:

San Francisco Art Association, 1921-1931

Oakland Art Gallery, 1931

Birmingham Museum, 1951

Southampton Museum, 1959

University of Long Island Museum, 1964

Parrish Art Museum, 1964, 1966, 1967

Hoover Gallery (San Francisco), 1975

Fresno Art Center, 1976 (Solo)

Haggin Museum, 1982

Huntsville Museum, 1982