DAVIS, CHARLES HAROLD (American, 1856-1933) "Landscape," 1878. Dated in the artist's hand on verso: October 1878. Oil on board, 6½" x 10 1/4" (sight); 11" x 15½" (framed). Price Category: B

Tonalist landscape painter Charles Harold Davis was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts in 1856. Not planning to become an artist, he left school to work in a carriage factory. It was only after seeing an exhibition of landscapes by Jean-François Millet that he decided to study drawing. He enrolled at the Boston Museum School, where he received instruction from Otto Grundman. From 1880 to 1881, he furthered his training in Paris at the Académie Julian in the atelier of Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger. During the decade that he remained in Paris, Davis frequently visited the Barbizon and Fontainebleau regions of France, where he painted the rural subject matter that would be his focus throughout the rest of his career. While in Paris in 1881, Davis exhibited at the Paris Salon. Two years later, he had his first solo exhibition in Boston. He participated in exhibitions at the National Academy of Design, the Society of American Artists, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Boston Art Club. In 1890, Davis settled in Mystic, Connecticut, where he lived until the end of his life. In his early works, Davis employed subdued tones and the soft glazes typical of the Barbizon painters. Around 1895, he began to focus on the subject of clouds, which he portrayed in different atmospheric and weather conditions at different times of day. He was considered one of the finest American Tonalists and was esteemed for his ability to express subtleties of color and form. He received numerous honors and continued to work until his death at age seventy-seven. His approached may be observed in this small landscape, painted in 1878. His view is of a quiet marsh seen through the filter of a soft misty atmosphere. Davis uses his brush not to describe natural elements but to convey their presence through an expressive use of color and stroke. Here instead of showing willow trees with their leaves and branches, he uses wispy, feathery strokes that seem to only graze the canvas. As a result, he transcribes the impression he received from the subject rather than its specific features. Rendered in tones of silvery blue and pale yellow-green, the work's tonally unified palette is intended to invoke a feeling of tranquility. Provenance: Spanierman Gallery, New York, 1998. Note: Spanierman is one of the leading galleries for American art in the United States. This small study was part of a collection of small studies by Davis, some signed, some unsigned, acquired from a private collector. Today the gallery offers comparable paintings by Davis from the same collection at prices much higher than ours, as their value has increased significantly. Museums: The Art Institute of Chicago The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Los Angeles County Museum of Art Wadsworth Atheneum New Britain Museum of American Art National Gallery of Art Smithsonian American Art Museum The Corcoran Gallery of Art Georgia Museum of Art Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery The Brooklyn Museum of Art Carnegie Museum of Art Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts References: E. Bénézit, Dictionary of Artists (Gründ: 2006). Annette Blaugrund, Paris 1889: American Artists at the Universal Exposition (Abrams: N.Y.). Doreen B. Burke, American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vol. III. Thomas Colville, Charles Harold Davis N.A. 1856-1933 (Mystic Art Association Monograph: Mystic, Connecticut, 1982). Dictionary of Signatures and Monograms of American Artists. William H. Downes, "Charles H. Davis's Landscapes," New England Magazine, XXVII, 1902. Helen L. Earle, Biographical Sketches of American Artists (Garnier: Charleston, 1972). Peter H. Falk, Who Was Who in American Art (Soundview Press, 1985). William H. Gerdts, American Impressionism (Abbeville Press, New York: 1984). Louis B. Gillet, "Charles H. Davis," The American Magazine of Art, XXVII, No. 3, March 1934.

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