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Morris Davidson BIOGRAPHY
1898 Rochester, New York - 1979 New York City. Known for: Non objective, abstract painting, illustration, teaching.
Morris Davidson (Rochester 1898—New York City 1979). Born to Sophia and Harris Davidson, Morris studied art in Baltimore, where he spent much of his childhood, and between 1916 and 1918 at the Art... Read full biography
Morris Davidson (Rochester 1898—New York City 1979). Born to Sophia and Harris Davidson, Morris studied art in Baltimore, where he spent much of his childhood, and between 1916 and 1918 at the Art Institute of Chicago. Davidson continued his education in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1920 when he... Read full biography
Morris Davidson (Rochester 1898—New York City 1979). Born to Sophia and Harris Davidson, Morris studied art in Baltimore, where he spent much of his childhood, and between 1916 and 1918 at the Art Institute of Chicago. Davidson continued his education in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1920 when he studied there with George Elmer Browne. He had the opportunity to see the work of twentieth-century modernists in Paris when he went there to study painting in 1923-24, and when he returned to Europe... Read full biography
Morris Davidson (Rochester 1898—New York City 1979). Born to Sophia and Harris Davidson, Morris studied art in Baltimore, where he spent much of his childhood, and between 1916 and 1918 at the Art Institute of Chicago. Davidson continued his education in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1920 when he studied there with George Elmer Browne. He had the opportunity to see the work of twentieth-century modernists in Paris when he went there to study painting in 1923-24, and when he returned to Europe about seven years later. French art would influence the development of his own approach to abstraction upon his return to the US. Almost from the start, Davidson was a teacher as well as a student, having been an instructor in painting and drawing at... Read full biography
Morris Davidson (Rochester 1898—New York City 1979). Born to Sophia and Harris Davidson, Morris studied art in Baltimore, where he spent much of his childhood, and between 1916 and 1918 at the Art Institute of Chicago. Davidson continued his education in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1920 when he studied there with George Elmer Browne. He had the opportunity to see the work of twentieth-century modernists in Paris when he went there to study painting in 1923-24, and when he returned to Europe about seven years later. French art would influence the development of his own approach to abstraction upon his return to the US. Almost from the start, Davidson was a teacher as well as a student, having been an instructor in painting and drawing at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 1921-22, at the Art Institute of Chicago, in Rockport, Massachusetts, and... Read full biography
Artist Biography
Biography page for Morris Davidson ((1898 - 1979)), known for Non objective, abstract painting, illustration, teaching. Showing 1 biographical entries and 0 sample artworks.
Morris Davidson - Artist Info
About Morris Davidson
Biography from the Archives of askART
Morris Davidson (Rochester 1898—New York City 1979)
Born to Sophia and Harris Davidson, Morris studied art in Baltimore, where he spent much of his childhood, and between 1916 and 1918 at the Art Institute of Chicago. Davidson continued his education in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1920 when he studied there with George Elmer Browne.
He had the opportunity to see the work of twentieth-century modernists in Paris when he went there to study painting in 1923-24, and when he returned to Europe about seven years later. French art would influence the development of his own approach to abstraction upon his return to the US.
Almost from the start, Davidson was a teacher as well as a student, having been an instructor in painting and drawing at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 1921-22, at the Art Institute of Chicago, in Rockport, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. From 1935 on, he operated his own successful art schools in Provincetown and New York City.
Over the course of his long painting career, Davidson’s work—which began in a representational style—became increasingly abstract. From portraits, still lifes, landscapes, and figure studies, Davidson eventually moved to pure abstraction.
Indeed abstract art was one of the subjects he addressed in his several books:
An Approach to Modern Painting (New York: Coward McCann, 1948)
Painting for Pleasure (Boston: Cushman & Flint, 1938)
Painting with Purpose (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1964), and
Understanding Modern Art (New York: Coward-McCann, 1931)
Davidson worked in both oil and watercolor painting, exhibiting works in both media throughout his career.
Davidson married Anne Schlesinger in the 1920s and remained so until the time of his death. The couple had two children, Eric and Lucy.
ASSOCIATION
American Abstract Artists (New York)
Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors (New York)
Provincetown Art Association
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Provincetown Art Association, 1925 and regularly thereafter
Whitney Biennial, 1933
Dorothy Paris Gallery, New York, 1936 and regularly thereafter
Feigl Gallery, New York, 1947, 1949
Passedoit Gallery, New York (one-man show), 1951
Ellen Donovan Gallery, Philadelphia (one-man show), 1951
Baltimore Museum of Art (one-man show), 1952
Cape Cod Art Association, 1953
New School for Social Research, New York, 1953
Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, 2017
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery
Sarah Lawrence College
Museum of Innovation and Science, Rochester, NY
Provincetown Art Association and Museum
REFERENCES
“Art News Visits Three Schools in Provincetown run by Hans Hofmann, Morris Davidson, and Arthur Silz,” Art News Vol. 45 (June 1946): 12-13.
“At Vanderbilt: An Influential Artist and Teacher Remembered,” The Magazine Antiques Vol. 184, issue 4 (July/Aug. 2017): 32. Color illustrations.
Kevin D. Murphy, American Modernism at Mid-Century: The Work of Morris Davidson. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, 2017. Distributed by the University of Massachusetts Press. Paperbound, 128 pages, ISBN 978-1625342881. Illustrations: ?30 color, 25 b&w.
Source:
Written and submitted by Kevin D. Murphy, Department of History of Art, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN