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Ted Davis

Ted Davis

American (1908-1995)

TED DAVIS

Born: New York City, NY 1908

Died: New York City, NY 1995

Louis Theodore "Ted" Davis began his study of art at the Cooper Union Institute in the late 1920s. During the 1930s, he was a student of John J. Newman. Following service in World War II, he used the GI Bill to study art in New York City. In the early 1950s he was a student of Hans Hoffman. From 1948 to 1992 he maintained studios in Manhattan and Monhegan Island, Maine. His work was exhibited in the Annual Exhibitions at the National Society of Painters in Casein, in which he won three awards including Patrons Prize (1957); the Twentieth Biennial International Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (1959); and the 29th Annual Mid-year Exhibition at the Butler Institute of American Art (1964). His work was featured in a one-man show at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, in 1997, and is illustrated in Monhegan: The Artists' Island (1997). His paintings are featured in collections of the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME; the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME; the Olin Arts Center at Bates College, Lewiston, ME; and the Monhegan Museum, Monhegan Island, ME. Davis drew his inspiration from the frenetic energy of New York City where he painted the bustle of the East River, its dock and river traffic. Other favorite urban subjects were musicians, commuters, still lifes, and live models that inspired his lush nudes. For nearly fifty years Davis summered on Monhegan Island; he likened the island to a "big cruise ship." It never went anywhere, but passengers and the atmospherics were constantly changing.

From the late 1940s to the end of his life, Davis' work became increasingly abstract, yet always it contained elements of the natural environment. The early work, influenced by Hans Hoffman's "push-pull theory," used Marinesque brush strokes to imply a setting, rather than utterly define it. Ultimately, these brush strokes resolved themselves into the blocks of color--a fish shack, a boat, and a buoy. From the 1960s to the 1990s he created prismatic layers of thin color, each layer overlapping and intersecting another. Was it the sun that shone through the center of these works? And then, of course, there were Davis' beloved "boids". The gulls of Monhegan ecame his other world, each one imbued with an identity--Reagan, the professor, the shy, and the scolding gull. For a man who lived the routine that Davis followed, the freedom that these gulls possessed fascinated him. Ted Davis was a beloved figure on the island. Many collectors and friends were devoted to his work and through him became educated to the world of modernism. His impromptu lectures on the artists and his insight into art will be remembered for decades. As a painter, his skill was summed up by the painter and The New Yorker cover illustrator, Charles E. Martin, who called him "the best watercolorist on the island!"

WORKS CITED:

Curtis, June and Will, and Frank Lieberman. Monhegan: The Artists' Island. Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 1995.

Deci, Ed. Personal Interview. August 2000.

Watercolor By Ted Davis: Sailboats, Monhegan Island, Maine At Childs GalleryQuick View
7×10IN.
$550
Sailboats, Monhegan Island, Maine
Watercolor By Ted Davis: Sailboats, Monhegan Island, Maine At Childs GalleryQuick View
7×10IN.
$550
Sailboats, Monhegan Island, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Cathedral Woods, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Cathedral Woods, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: The Harbormaster [Monhegan, Maine], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
21×15IN.
$2,200
The Harbormaster [Monhegan, Maine]
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Movement in Mood #1, Monhegan Island, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
14×21IN.
$2,200
Movement in Mood #1, Monhegan Island, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Rocky Forms, Monhegan Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Rocky Forms, Monhegan Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Sherm's Fish House, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Sherm's Fish House, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Fishing Gear, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Fishing Gear, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Cat with Butterfly, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Cat with Butterfly
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Monhegan Village, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Monhegan Village, Maine
Quick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Cathedral Woods, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Michael - The Gallery Curator, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Michael - The Gallery Curator
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Rocks and Trees,  Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Rocks and Trees, Monhegan, Maine
Quick View
15×22IN.
$2,200
Cathedral Woods [Monhegan, Maine]
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Lubec, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
7×10IN.
$550
Lubec, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Lubec, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
7×10IN.
$550
Lubec, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Monhegan, Maine, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
7×10IN.
$550
Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Abstract Composition, Monhegan, Maine, available at Childs Gallery, BostonQuick View
14×10IN.
$950
Abstract Composition, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Abstract Composition, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
14×10IN.
$950
Abstract Composition, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Yellow Sails, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
19×24IN.
$2,800
Yellow Sails, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Sunburst Monhegan # 4 [Maine], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
24×19IN.
$2,800
Sunburst Monhegan # 4 [Maine]
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Variation of Color, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
19×25IN.
$2,800
Variation of Color, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Red Sunburst, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
26×20IN.
$2,800
Red Sunburst, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Herring, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
20×26IN.
$2,500
Herring, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor By Ted Davis: Shining Sails, Monhegan Harbor, Maine At Childs GalleryQuick View
20×26IN.
$2,800
Shining Sails, Monhegan Harbor, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Sun Over High Duck Rock, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
19×25IN.
$2,800
Sun Over High Duck Rock
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Curious Gull, Monhegan, Maine, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
25×20IN.
$2,800
Curious Gull, Monhegan, Maine
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Sunburst Monhegan # 1 [Maine], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
25×21IN.
$2,800
Sunburst Monhegan # 1 [Maine]
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Sunburst Monhegan # 2 [Maine], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
25×21IN.
$2,800
Sunburst Monhegan # 2 [Maine]
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Sunburst Monhegan # 3 [Maine], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
26×21IN.
$2,800
Sunburst Monhegan # 3 [Maine]
Painting by Ted Davis: New York Rooftops, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
15×19IN.
$3,500
New York Rooftops
Watercolor by Ted Davis: Careful Gull [Monhegan, Maine], represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
16×12IN.
$1,200
Careful Gull [Monhegan, Maine]
Painting by Ted Davis: Musicians, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
20×16IN.
$10,000
Musicians
Painting by Ted Davis: Demolition (New York, NY), represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
29×21IN.
$15,000
Demolition (New York, NY)
Painting by Ted Davis: Harlem River Bridge, represented by Childs GalleryQuick View
16×20IN.
$6,500
Harlem River Bridge
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