David Davies (21 May 1864 – 26 March 1939) was an Australian artist who was associated with the

Heidelberg School The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has latterly been described as Australian impressionism. Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and ...

, the first significant Western art movement in Australia.

Biography

Born and raised in Ballarat, Victoria, Davies attended art classes at the Ballarat School of Mines and Industries. He subsequently attended the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, studying under

Frederick McCubbin Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, McCubb ...

and

George Folingsby George Frederick Folingsby (23 August 1828 – 4 January 1891) was an Irish-born Australian painter and art educator. Folingsby was born in the County of Wicklow, Ireland. At the age of 18 he emigrated to Canada. Later he went to New York Cit s ...

from 1886 to 1890. During this time, he often visited

Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, sou ...

Charles Conder Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...

and other ''plein air'' painters at their Mount Eagle "artists' camp". The artists stayed in a farmhouse on the property owned by Charles Davies, the brother of David Davies' future wife. In 1890, Davies submitted his painting ''Under the Burden and Heat of the Day'' to the National Gallery School's Travelling Scholarship competition, but lost. Nonetheless, private collector James Oddie purchased the painting and later sold it to the

Art Gallery of Ballarat The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest and largest regional art gallery in Australia. Established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by the citizens of Ballarat, both the building and part of its collection is listed on the Victorian H ...

. Davies used the funds from this purchase to travel to Europe.
'Candice Bruce,
Davies, David (1864 - 1939)
, '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 8, MUP, 1981, p. 232. While there, he studied under

Jean-Paul Laurens Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style. Biography Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexa ...

in Paris, and later joined the

St Ives School The St Ives School refers to a group of artists living and working in the Cornish town of St Ives.Templestowe Templestowe is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Templestowe recorded a population of 16,966 at the . The s ...

, where he began painting the local scenery ''en plain air'' during the evening. These nocturnal landscapes, many of them simply named ''Moonrise'', are among his best-known works, and can be found in the collections of many of Australia's major art museums, including the Art Gallery of South Australia, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. Moonlight was a favourite theme found in his works. He completed a series depicting the moon rising over the

Yarra Valley The Yarra Valley is the region surrounding the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia. The river originates approximately east of the Melbourne central business district and flows towards it and out into Port Phillip Bay. The name Yarra Vall ...

. Early in 1896, Davies and his family moved to Cheltenham, Melbourne. Davies held a one-man exhibition in Melbourne in May 1926 which was reported to have been successful. In 1932 Davies moved to Looe, Cornwall, England, where he died on 26 March 1939.

Legacy

A major exhibition of Davies' work, organised by the Art Gallery of Ballarat, toured a number of Australia's state galleries in 1985–86. Davies Close in the Canberra suburb of Conder is named in his honour.

Selected paintings

File:David Davies - From a Distant Land, 1889.jpg, ''From a Distant Land'', 1889, Art Gallery of New South Wales File:David Davies - Under the Burden and Heat of the Day, 1890.jpg, ''Under the Burden and Heat of the Day'', 1890, Art Gallery of Ballarat File:David Davies - Moonrise - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Moonrise'', 1893, Art Gallery of South Australia File:The Season of Storm and Stress and Toil.jpeg, ''The Season of Storm, Stress and Toil'', 1895, private collection

References

External links

David Davies' works
at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
David Davies
at Artists Footsteps
David Davies Artist Signed Original
at PaintingsCollection.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, David 1864 births 1939 deaths Heidelberg School Australian watercolourists Federation University Australia alumni 19th-century Australian painters 19th-century Australian male artists 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian male artists Australian male painters People from Ballarat Artists from Victoria (Australia) National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni