American, 1925-2017

Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Kenneth Davies became a noted still-life painter and long-time art teacher, living in Madison, Connecticut. He was also Dean of the Paier School of Art in New Haven. As a commercial artist, he created the logo for Wild Turkey bourbon.

He attended the Massachusetts School of Art in Boston, and after two years in the Army, studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1950. His teaching career began at the Whitney School of Art and continued at the Paier School in New Haven, Connecticut where he served as Dean.

Education:

• Massachusetts College of Art (1943-1944)
• Yale School of Art, B.F.A.; Studied with Deane Keller, Rudolph Zallinger and Lewis York; Influenced by 19^th century still-life painters and masters of trompe l-oeil, William M. Harnett, John Haberle, and J.D. Chalfant; Wrote thesis on history of trompe l-oeil (1946-1950)

Awards:

• Artist of the Year, Fairfield Festival of the Arts, Fairfield, CT (1990)
• Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, New England School of Law, Boston, MA (1980)
• Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation fellowship (1950)

Museum Collections:

• Brandywine River Museum
• New Bedford Whaling Museum
• New Britain Museum of American Art
• Smithsonian Institution

Commissions:

• White House Historical Association commission, painting of the north portico lantern celebrating the 200^th anniversary of the White House in a year 2000 commemorative calendar; Painting was exhibited around the country at presidential libraries (1999)
• U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamp commissioned painting, The Metropolitan Opera (1983)
• U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamp commission, Chemistry stamp (1976)
• U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamp commission, Pharmacy stamp (1972)

Solo Exhibitions:

• Ken Davies: A Retrospective at Eighty, New Bedford Whaling Museum, MA (May 26 – September 15, 2006)
• Ken Davies: A Retrospective at Eighty, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD (December 2, 2005- January 29, 2006)

• Ken Davies: A Retrospective at Eighty, Museum Exhibition Preview of New Work, Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT (November 3-10, 2005)
• Ken Davies: New Work, Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT (2002)
• Ken Davies: American Still Life (New Paintings), Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT (1999)
• Ken Davies:  New Paintings and New Directions, Greene Art Gallery, Guilford, CT (1992)
• Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT (1990)
• Greene Art Gallery, Guilford, CT (1989)
• Ken Davies:  American Still Life, Greene Gallery, Guilford, CT in conjunction with Hirschl & Adler (1987)
• Tiasquam Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard, MA (1987 & 1988)
• Ken Davies: Favorite Things – Recent Paintings and Drawings, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY (1986)
• Ken Davies: 35 Years,  A New Bedford Homecoming, Old Dartmouth Historical Society Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA (1983)
• Whistler’s Daughter Gallery, Basking Ridge, NJ (1982)
• Fitchburg Museum, Fitchburg, MA (1980)
• Ken Davies: A 30-year Retrospective, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY (1978)
• 25-year Retrospective Show, New Britain Museum, New Britain, CT (1971)
• Banfer Gallery, New York, NY (1969)
• Hewitt Gallery, New York, NY (1951)
• Grand Central Gallery, New York, NY (1965)
• Silvermine Guild, New Canaan, CT (1965)
• Whitney Annual, New York, NY (1951)
• Critique by M. Farber in The Nation: “Of the sixty-four artists who have not previously hung in the Whitney Annual the most striking is realist Ken Davies, who has developed an eye for tones to a point where he makes the camera seem like feeble competition.  In Martin, Davies, and Vickrey and a few others, we have painters actually painting according to Hoyle, with a good many of the delicate tonal enrichments, the compositional rhythms, and the linear refinements that are to be found in the work of the old masters.”

Selected Group Exhibitions:

• The Reality of Things: Trompe L’Oeil in America, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL (February 3–July 6, 2007)
• Yale University School of Art Celebrates Yale 300, Yale University (2001)
• Silent Things, Secret Things: Still Life from Rembrandt to the Millenium, The Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico (1999)
• Painted Eggs of the World, annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Washington, DC (1981)
• Davies’s egg now part of a Smithsonian collection
• Selected by Nancy Reagan to participate
• Collection of Amanda K. Berls and Ruth A. Yerion, Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, PA (1980)
• Amanda K. Berls donated a Davies painting to the museum; Collection included works by Haberle, Peto, Hinckley, Harnett, Chalfant, N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, Alexander Pope, Arthur Byron Phillips & Maxfield Parrish.
• Three Realists: John Chumley, Ken Davies, Michael Filmus, Lincoln Kirstein, curator. Hirschl & Adler, New York, NY (1975)
• Berkshire Art Association 9^th Annual Exhibition, The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA (Oct. 1–30, 1960)
• Davies awarded prize by juror Norman Rockwell
• The American British Art Gallery, New York, NY, (January 17–February 2, 1951)
• Symbolic Realism, Edwin Hewitt Gallery, New York, NY (1950)
• Realism in American Painting 1940-1950, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Dover Street, London (1950)
• Critical notice received from reporter Geoffrey Gorer in “The Listener” (B.B.C. publication): “A trompe l’oeil still life by Ken Davies equals, if it does not surpass, in technical skill its 18^th-century models.”

Teaching:

• Paier College of Art, Hamden, CT; Visiting Professor & Dean Emeritus (1981–1991)
• Paier College of Art, Hamden, CT; Dean (1958–1981)
• Paier School of Art, Hamden, CT; Instructor: helped design curriculum based on model of 19^th century atelier, with strong emphasis on drawing, painting and compositional skills (1953–1957)
• Whitney School of Art, New Haven, CT; Instructor (1950–1953)

Publications:

• Kugler, Richard C., Ken Davies: A Retrospective at Eighty; Catalog essay by Director Emeritus, for New Bedford Whaling Museum (2005-2006)
• Gerdts, William H., Ken Davies: An Historical Perspective; Catalogue essay for Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT (1999)
• Frankenstein, Alfred, Ken Davies: A 30-year Retrospective; Catalogue essay for Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY (1978)
• Exhibition catalog cover Antiques for The Berkshire Museum (1960)
• Frankenstein, Alfred, After the Hunt:  William Harnett and Other American Still Life Painters, 1870-1900 (1953). Ken Davies’s painting The Blackboard (1951) included; Davies cited as a contemporary master of trompe l’oeil style 
• Commercial work: advertising and story illustrations; Saturday Evening Post, Fortune and Collier’s; Austin Nichols, Inc. Wild Turkey paintings (1952-1962)
• Fortune magazine; Cover illustration (1950)