Hubert Davis (1902–1981) was an American

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

artist and painter. His most notable works were created during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

as a reflection of the lifestyle of the United States working class.

Biography

Born in

Milton, Pennsylvania Milton is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the West Branch Susquehanna River, north of Harrisburg, located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley. It is approximately 10 miles upriver from the mouth ...

in 1902, Davis studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

in the 1920s. His works—depictions of landscapes and figure studies executed on

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

and

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

—were first exhibited in 1925. The earliest and most renowned of Davis's

lithographic Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

pieces were produced in 1931: a medium he devoted himself to, some of Davis's best known lithographs include ''Costume Designs'', ''Seaboard Castle'', and ''Pier 50, North River''. An active figure in the New York art community, like many of his contemporaries, Davis was highly influenced by the American working class's lifestyle and the hardships endured during the

. Many of Davis's prints were published by the New York branch of

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA), a federal program that provided financial aid for thousands of artists in exchange for public works. Without the WPA, Davis's works, along with those of other contemporaries, may never have achieved the same acclaim. Davis's popularity peaked in the 1930s; details of his life and artistic career following that decade are sparse. Hubert Davis died in 1981.

Legacy

Artist and educator Ronald K. DeLong, through a family association, came to be the caretaker of a vast trove of Davis's work left behind in a farmhouse-studio in rural Pennsylvania. Subsequently Delong worked to catalog and ready the work for a series of exhibitions in 2017. A triple interconnected series of exhibitions of Davis' work is being shown in the spring and summer of 2017, on view in the Greater

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

area. These were: "Hubert Davis: Scenes of Pennsylvania" at the Ron K. DeLong Gallery at

Penn State Lehigh Valley Penn State Lehigh Valley is a commonwealth campus of Pennsylvania State University located in Center Valley, outside of Allentown in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. History In 1912, Penn State opened its first permanent branch school i ...

in Central Valley, Pennsylvania (catalogue essay by Vincent DiCicco); "Hubert Davis: Foreign Lands", curated by Deborah Rabinsky at the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and “Hubert Davis: Costume Design” at the 514 Gallery in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Hubert 1902 births 1981 deaths American artists Federal Art Project artists