Sculptural Organisms, 1950
Alan Wheatley Art
Oil on masonite
Signed, dated and inscribed with the title verso
Opus O.52
Provenance
The Artist.
Gimpel Fils, London.
Collection of David Thomson, Canada.
Literature
Alan BOWNESS (ed.). Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, 1967, cat.no.38, ill.pl.15 (B+W).
Douglas HALL and Michael TUCKER. Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1992, cat.no.53, p.168.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
One of Davie’s most important early paintings and one created as he moved towards a freer style while retaining something of his more grid-like works of the late 1940s.
Paintings of this period are extremely rare.
This was a time of new and great works such as Peggy’s Guessing Box, Jingling Space and Altar of the Blue Diamond (painted only a few months after Sculptural Organisms).
1950 was a time of great experimentation for Davie and he made his own paints mixing permanent powder pigments with turps and oil to a thin, creamy consistency, so expertly used here.
These earthy paintings of the late 1940s and early 1950s exhibit incredibly free brushwork and a masterful balance between sculptural elements and intuitive gesture. They also contain intriguing flashes of colour, with flashes and flurries of reds, whites, blues and greens.
Davie’s strong structural central form contains intriguing chambers within and is surrounded by dynamic , spectral creatures and ambiguous forms in a great flurry of creativity, the essence of Davie’s intuitive act towards which he always strove. Bowness refers to the “anthropomorphic figures” seen in Davie’s major works such as the Woman Bewitched by the Moon series, more accurately so described than human. He also alludes to the frequent contrast between order and chaos, so clearly shown in Sculptural Organisms.
Sculptural Organisms, 1950
Oil on masonite
Signed, dated and inscribed with the title verso
Opus O.52
Provenance
The Artist.
Gimpel Fils, London.
Collection of David Thomson, Canada.
Literature
Alan BOWNESS (ed.). Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, 1967, cat.no.38, ill.pl.15 (B+W).
Douglas HALL and Michael TUCKER. Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1992, cat.no.53, p.168.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
One of Davie’s most important early paintings and one created as he moved towards a freer style while retaining something of his more grid-like works of the late 1940s.
Paintings of this period are extremely rare.
This was a time of new and great works such as Peggy’s Guessing Box, Jingling Space and Altar of the Blue Diamond (painted only a few months after Sculptural Organisms).
1950 was a time of great experimentation for Davie and he made his own paints mixing permanent powder pigments with turps and oil to a thin, creamy consistency, so expertly used here.
These earthy paintings of the late 1940s and early 1950s exhibit incredibly free brushwork and a masterful balance between sculptural elements and intuitive gesture. They also contain intriguing flashes of colour, with flashes and flurries of reds, whites, blues and greens.
Davie’s strong structural central form contains intriguing chambers within and is surrounded by dynamic , spectral creatures and ambiguous forms in a great flurry of creativity, the essence of Davie’s intuitive act towards which he always strove. Bowness refers to the “anthropomorphic figures” seen in Davie’s major works such as the Woman Bewitched by the Moon series, more accurately so described than human. He also alludes to the frequent contrast between order and chaos, so clearly shown in Sculptural Organisms.