 Hello, I'm Don Myers, Director of the Hillster Museum of Art at DeSavis Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Currently on view at the museum through January 26th, 2021 are paired exhibits titled Modern Movement, Arthur Bowen Davies Figurative Works on Paper from the Randolph College and Mack Cosgrove Davies Collections and Arthur B. Davies Paintings from the Randolph College Collection. The catalog that accompanies these exhibits is accessible in PDF form on the Hillster Museum of Art webpage at www.gustavis.edu.com Also available there is a link to a video walkthrough tour of the exhibits at the museum and a link to an article about them that recently appeared in the American Art Review. Artists Arthur Bowen Davies, who lived from 1862 to 1928, was a key figure in American art. He was one of the group of artists called The Eight from which the pivotal Ashkahn School of Modern American Art arose, and he also was instrumental in introducing European modernism to America through his role as the key organizer of the famed 1913 Armory Show exhibition held in New York, Chicago and Boston. Much of Davies' own work, however, has a dreamy, Arcadian quality that seems at odds with the gritty urban realism of his contemporary Ashkahn artists in America and with European art of his time. The two current exhibits of Davies' paintings, drawings and sculpture allow a better understanding of the artist, who had his own unique vision that combined modern ideals with a timeless appearance. The exhibits which are presented at the Hillster Museum of Art with the support of a generous brand from the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation were organized by the Meyer Museum of Art at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia in collaboration with the artist's great-grandson, exhibition's co-curator, Mack Cosgrove Davies. Cosgrove Davies oversees and is cataloging an extensive family collection of Arthur Bowen Davies' works, a number of which are included in the exhibitions, and he will discuss in this recorded lecture his ancestors' work and career. Thank you so much, Mack, for generously sharing your knowledge and experience of Arthur Bowen Davies. Well, thank you, Don. It's really a pleasure to be able to do this, and I'd like to move directly into the presentation. So, after hitting just a couple of buttons here, slide show from beginning. So, I put together this presentation, and I call it a personal perspective, but after I put it together, I realized it's kind of my own highlights tour of my great-grandfather, and so I'd like to invite you along. My great-grandfather died long before I was born, but even so, he was very alive during my childhood. The walls of my childhood home were filled with his work, and my father and his siblings shared their family memories. This sketch is of my grandfather, David Davies, circa 1902. Just a note for the entire presentation. The images, virtually all the images shown here, the Davies images are in the family collection, unless otherwise noted. As I grew up, some of Davies' works were very easy to understand. There are many plain air paintings, like this one, oils on panel, as well as watercolors and drawings that clearly tell of the deep inspiration he derived from nature. He also seemed to delight in showing the harmony between man and nature. I've always felt comfortable with these works, with the way they evoke, rather than simply depict the scene, with the easy manner in which they draw the eye. This is something I strive for in my own work, but there is another major direction of his work, which requires a very different sort of appreciation. This is characterized by a more decorative feel, sometimes described as whimsical, mythical, spiritual, mystical. They defy easy interpretation and invite a different sort of introspective interaction with the works. Davies left precious few written notes or memoirs that might be useful in divining his intent. He allowed his work to speak for itself. Surely, there is a mystery here to explore, and although I haven't solved it, I have a few clues to share. As a brief orientation, here are a few touchstones in his life. He was born in Utica, New York, in 1862. At age 14, he took his first art lessons, although as we shall see, his artistic talents had already begun to bloom. The family moved to Chicago. When he was 17 and three years later, he joined a railroad survey team that traveled to Mexico. He married in 1892. Two of his four children from this marriage survived to adulthood. As they grew, so did his artistic reputation and influence. He played a leading role in the landmark Armory Show of 1913, and he died in 1928. Davies was born in an urban setting, although urban certainly had a different feel than it does now. For example, water and sewage lines existed in the city, although I haven't learned whether they were available in every house. Utica had a population of about 30,000 at this time. The city was growing fast after the 1825 arrival of the Erie Canal, which ones from Albany to Buffalo. In cities like Utica at that time, there were no suburbs as we have today. Instead, the city was surrounded by rural land, and Davies must have spent a good deal of time in it. From an early age, Davies showed unusual skill in visual arts. The family described him as a normally active boy in school and outdoor sports, but always busy with pencil and watercolors. At the age of five, he used little paints to color pictures. He would sit on the floor and copy pictures from the big dictionary. The walls of our home were covered with his pictures." He created this oil on canvas painting, probably copying from a color illustration when he was 10. Davies made pictures from an early age. This was his way of experiencing the world, and he continued this practice throughout his life. At age 14, his father asked an artist friend to instruct the boy. Dwight Williams, whose works are shown here, found him a ready student who rarely needed to be shown something twice and frequently anticipated his instructor. It must have taken more than two hours by horse and buggy to reach Casanovia, where Dwight Williams lived. This gave the young artist plenty of time to drink in the surrounding beauty. While working with Dwight Williams, Davies' notes show that he also took a keen interest in Greek mythology. It is easy to conjecture how an adolescent boy with a head full of Greek mythology might allow his imagination to run wild during these long rides. The works shown here were made much later in his career, but show how he used New York's natural environment, including the Hudson River near his future home, as the setting for many of his works, which reference also Greek mythology. In 1882, Davies joined a railroad survey team as a draftsman. They traveled to Mexico. Shown here are some of his sketches from that time. In 1892, Davies married Virginia Merriweather. She was a remarkable woman in her own right. She shot her first husband in self-defense. She became one of America's first women doctors. Over her career, she delivered more than 6,000 babies. She ran a farm in addition to her medical practice. She bore four children and mourned the early death of two of these. She raised two boys, one of whom was my grandfather. She was strong-willed, capable, and a beloved member of the community. Although her marriage to Davies started out strong, the two drifted apart and by 1900 or so they were estranged, with Davies living in New York City visiting the farm on weekends. My cousins still operate the Dr. Davies farm today in Rockland County, New York. You can go pick apples or visit their farm stand for fresh produce. The photo montage in the center gives an historic view of the farm, although perhaps a little after Davies time. As Davies matured as an artist, he hired models for life drawing sessions several days a week. Edna Potter was his first regular model. Over time, and as his marriage eroded, Davies began living with her. When she conceived a child, they adopted new names, David and Edna Owens. Their child, Ronnie Owens, was born in 1912. Edna was 35 years old, Davies was 50. From this point on, Davies led a dual life. His congress family and the art world knew him as Arthur B. Davies. His daughter and her world knew him as David Owens. Only a very small handful of people knew both identities. If for no other reason, this situation would seem enough to explain the artist's legendary aloofness. He rarely appeared at public events, even for openings of his own one-man shows. This surely added to the mystique of his reputation. Despite the self-imposed isolation, he was extremely effective in fundraising and organizing the famous Armory Show of 1913. In 1914, Davies hired a new model, Wreith McIntyre. She was to be his primary model for the remainder of his life, posing three days a week. Note the locket Wreith is wearing in the center photo. This is a gift from the artist. Whenever Davies included a locket in his art, see the print on the left, for example, you can be sure it is Wreith. That said, there are many more of Wreith without the locket. In 1924, Davies won a Christmas card competition with this design. Wreith confirms in the accompanying note on this card that she was the model. My extended family has hundreds of these sketches in our overall collection. Many more are in museum and personal collections. He probably produced thousands. By 1907, Davies was already a rising star, having had several one-man shows at Macbeth's Gallery and participating in numerous exhibits, including at the Pennsylvania Academy and Corcoran Gallery. Still, in April 1907, he was rejected for membership in the National Academy of Design. This despite the support of Robert Henry, who was among the jurors for the Academy's annual show. Along with others frustrated by the Academy's restrictive atmosphere, Henry and Davies organized a show known as The Eight in 1908. Also included were Everett Shin, John Sloan, Ernest Lawson, Maurice Prendergast, George Lukes, and William Glackens. The show was a direct challenge to the Academy's stranglehold on the U.S. art community. It set the stage for the Armory show five years later. Shown here are the photographs of the artists made by Gertrude Kasebier, herself a noted photographer. Davies was inspired by the heady changes of his day, especially music and dance. This was graphically revealed to me in watching a superb performance by Laurie Bellilove and the Isadora Duncan Dance Company, who have performed at two of the showings of the modern movement exhibit. The dancer's pose shown on the left is clearly echoed in the two Davies' works. It means connection to the earth. Such similarities are found throughout Davies' body of work. Davies seemed to use the nude as a sort of visual vocabulary with some very recognizable forms appearing in multiple works, even over multiple media. This certainly contributes to why Davies is sometimes described as a symbolist. Like most successful artists of his day, Davies thrived largely on the basis of patrons, such as Lizzie Bliss, heir to her father's textile fortune, whose collection ultimately formed part of the initial MoMA collection. However, Davies was unusual in that he also was a significant patron and collector of art himself, as well as an influential advisor. Judith Zilser and others have written illuminating articles on Davies as a patron, showing how he supported struggling artists by purchasing their work and providing other forms of assistance. The works shown here are representative of some of the artists he supported, but not necessarily in Davies' collection. Davies also guided some of the most influential collectors of the day into the new world of modern art collecting. These include Lizzie Bliss, already mentioned, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Mary Quinn Sullivan, and Duncan Phillips, who is the founder of the Phillips collection in Washington, D.C. Bliss, Rockefeller, and Sullivan were the driving force behind creation of the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, in New York City. Davies' advice on their collections, as well as their distress over the breakup of some exceptional personal art collections, including Davies' collection, certainly figured prominently in their desire to create a Museum of Modern Art. In 1912, Davies was elected president of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. They planned for an annual exhibit. Against the wishes of some of the association's members, Davies included in the association's first show a significant contingent of European artists, who at that time were in the vanguard of modern art. The landmark Armory Show of 1913, which introduced mainstream American audiences to this modern art, turned out to be the only event put on by this short-lived association. The organization of this show is certainly a major part of Davies' legacy. At his death, Davies had a spectacular art collection. The Davies' family legend goes that the stuffy old lawyers who were advising his widow told her to sell off all that modern stuff while it still had value, but to hang on to the Davies' works since their value would endure. The collection was broad and deep. Total receipts from the collection from the auction came to more than $77,000. This converts to about $1.8 million in today's dollars. My wife cries every time she sees these slides. The collection included Greek pottery, Byzantine artifacts, Chinese paintings, and many of the then-new artists, such as Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne, Diego Rivera, Brancusi, Walt Kuhn, Max Weber, Odilon Radon, and the list goes on. Shown here is a page from the 1929 auction catalog of his collection. You can perhaps make out the sales prices that one of my cousins penciled in. A Matisse bronze statuette? $90. Picasso etchings? $25 each. Marsden-Hartley painting? $70. Cezanne watercolor sketch? $100. Even accounting for inflation, there were definitely some bargains to be had. The family continued to sell these works even after the auction, and you can see that the prices are much lower than you might ever see today. Davies and his contemporaries lived during a period of unprecedented change. America's industrial revolution started in 1790, was well underway. Even more than preceding generations, this generation had to deal with an environment of constant and accelerating change. Social tensions led to America's bloodiest war in history, and even after the Civil War, the underlying stresses remain unresolved to this day. Yet progress marched on. Accelerating change in arts and culture was the order of the day, with each shocking new development further undermining previously accepted Victorian norms. Technology advancement, fueled by the insatiable appetites of the industrial revolution, came thick and fast. All of this created a broad sense of both opportunity and risk. Without the solid ground of tradition as an anchor, many looked inward for their compass. Spirituality, a quasi-ethical perspective separate from religion, took hold especially among the intelligentsia and wealthy. Although his father was a clergy for the Welsh Methodist Church, Davies graduated much more strongly toward a less structured spirituality. Shown here is a soul picture of Davies by Marjorie Organ, Robert Henry's wife. A tongue-in-cheek reference to spirituality. Although medical practices were improving in this period, there remained theories that today would be good as quackery, but then were taken very seriously. Dr. Robin Veder, cultural historian and editor of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Journal, makes a convincing case in her book, The Living Line, that the rapid changes of the era were believed to cause stress-related maladies. Also, just as what we feel, taste or smell can affect our physical well-being, the theory went that the same was true of visual stimuli. Hence, if you were viewing disturbing or calming artwork, your well-being will be directly affected in one direction or the other. From this perspective, Davies' art was perceived as a soothing prescription for the malady of overstimulation. If your days are filled with the cacophony of urban life, what better than to come home to a dream vision such as this? Of course, if one of these antidotes to modern madness is good, more is better. This may in part explain the popularity of Davies' works, but the health benefits of Davies' art don't seem to be the only explanation of his popularity. I would like to close with some extended quotes from a Davies' contemporary critic, Royal Cortezas. He wrote, Arthur B. Davies is an anomaly in American art history, an artist whose own lyrical work could be described as restrained and conservative but whose tastes were as advanced and open to experimentation as those of anyone of his time. Davies lives by the imagination so singly, so naturally and with such intensity that there is no mistaking the character of his dreams. There was nothing in the movement current about favorable to the growth of his genius. He had to spin his inspiration out of his own entrails. He paints, I think, under the onrush of a feeling too deep and imperious to be coolly analyzed or governed. Dreams, visions, ideas, half-happy and half-troublous in intimations, sweep through his imagination and sway his brush. Expression of them means not orderly narrative, but a kind of ecstatic improvisation. Expression of them is not always absolutely triumphant. Pigment is sometimes stubborn. Principles of design are swept aside by the force of the idea, spontaneously stated for its own sake rather than serenely composed. Nor is there any tradition, any formula, for him to fall back upon in a moment of confusion or in certitude. Davies is uncannily detached from the conventions of orderly narrative, divisive devices or broad tendencies of a school. He leans upon no recognizable master in his treatment of the figure. It is his sense of beauty that first and last must include wholehearted faith in this man of genius. For human life, he has a sympathy so clairvoyant and so constant that what he does is always vibrant with vitality. But beauty is to him the central energizing principle in art. If he feels life with the humanitarian sensitiveness, he sees it beautifully. He cannot contemplate a figure or a landscape without responding to whatever there is in it that is right and fine. This is what validates his singularity, justifies him and makes him a boon to American painting. The beauty that glows like a jewel at the core of his art. End quote. Well, we've reached the end of my tour, but like any tour we've only scratched the surface. If you are interested in finding more information about Arthur B. Davies, here are a few places to start. The first is an excellent biography by Bernard Perlman, The Lives, Loves and Art of Arthur B. Davies. Another biography, a shorter one by Brooks Wright, The Artist in the Unicorn, also very good. The third is an anthology, Arthur B. Davies' Essays on the Man and His Art. It was produced during the artist's lifetime and edited by Duncan Phillips of the Phillips Collection. There is also a catalogue raisonne of his prints, which was produced by Joseph Chesdokowski, which is a very thorough exploration of his prints, although if it's ever reproduced, I have a few corrections to suggest. And finally, The Living Line by Dr. Robin Veder, which is a fascinating exploration of cultural history of the time, using Davies as a prime example. And of course, there are more. So thank you very much for your patience and your attention, and I hope you enjoyed it.