David Davies b. 1864 Ballarat, Victoria

  • Artist (Painter)
David Davies, the son of a Ballarat miner, first came to public notice in the late 1880s when he was a student at the National Gallery School. Although he is best known for his romantic moonlit landscapes of the Victorian countryside, most of his career took place in Paris and in Cornwall, where he was closely associated with the St Ives artists' colony.
Keywords: Heidelberg School
Talk | Version history | Updated Dec. 27, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1999
Name
David Davies
Birth date
21 May 1864
Birth place
Ballarat, Victoria
Death date
26 March 1939
Death place
Looe, Cornwall, England
Gender
Male
Roles
  • Artist (Painter)
Residence
  • 1864- 1886 Ballarat, Victoria
  • 1886- 1890 Melbourne, Victoria
  • 1891- c.1891 Paris, France
  • 1892- c.1892 St Ives, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom
  • 1893- 1897 Melbourne, Victoria
  • 1898- c.1904 Cornwall, England, UK
  • 1905 London, England, UK
  • 1906- 1908 North Wales, UK
  • 1908- Dieppe, France
  • 1932- 1939 Looe, Cornwall, England
Keywords:
Heidelberg School
Active Period
  • 1887- 1926
Cultural Heritage
  • Welsh
Languages
  • English
Training
  • art classes, - 1886 Ballarat School of Mines and Industries, Ballarat, VIC, Australia
  • 1886- 1890 National Gallery School, Melbourne, Vic.
  • 1891 Academie Julian, Paris, France
  • 1892 Artists' colony, St Ives, Cornwall, England
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • Legacy data. Source 'unknown'

David Davies, who is best known for his romantic moonlit landscapes, was born in West Ballarat, the son of a Welsh miner, Thomas Davies, and his wife Mary Harris. After attending the local state schools he took art classes from J.F. Martell and Thomas Price at the Ballarat School of Mines and Industries. In 1886 he left Ballarat for Melbourne, where he enrolled in classes at the National Gallery School, under George Folingsby and Frederick McCubbin. In November 1888 he was awarded the student landscape prize with A Hot Day. In 1890, after Ballarat Fine Art Gallery bought Under the Burden and Heat of Day, he travelled to Paris where he enrolled in classes at the Academie Julian. Fellow students included the Australian, Aby Altson.
On 18 December 1891 he married a fellow art student from Melbourne, Janet Sophia Davies, who was studying at Colarossi’s atelier. The successful Australian painter, Rupert Bunny, was one of the witnesses to the wedding.
Soon after the couple travelled to the artists’ colony of St Ives in Cornwall, and based themselves there. Davies’ work responded to the softly romantic impressionist vision of the English artists.
They returned to Australia in 1893, and settled at Templestowe where he painted landscapes of dusk or night light, usually lit by moonlight. His work was well appreciated: _Moonrise _of 1894 was purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1897 the family returned to Europe,settling at first in Cornwall, then later in Wales.
In 1908 the family settled at Dieppe in France, where Davies painted while Janet taught English. They were based in France for some years, but Davies continued to exhibit in England, and returned often to visit his friend and patron Richard Heyworth. They did move to London on the outbreak of World War I, but later returned to Dieppe as he found his subject matter in the landscape of rural France.
In May 1926 the Fine Art Society’Gallery Melbourne held a major exhibition of Davies’ European works. It was his only major Australian exhibition.
He returned to Cornwall in 1932, and died at Looe of congestive heart failure on 26 March 1939. Janet Davies died of pneumonia five days later.

Writers:
Staff Writer
mendej
Date written:
1999
Last updated:
2011
associate of
George Folingsby
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
student of
associate of
Frederick McCubbin
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
student of
spouse of
Janet Sophia Davies
Artist
associate of
Aby Altson
Artist
associate of
Rupert Bunny
1864
Artist
associate of
Clewin Harcourt
1870
Artist, Designer (Industrial / Product Designer)
associate of
J. S. Macdonald
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
child of
Thomas Davies
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
J.F. Martell
Artist
student of
associate of
Thomas Price
Artist
student of
associate of
Emanuel Phillips Fox
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
colleague of
associate of
H. Walter Barnett
1862
Artist (Photographer)
associate of
Morris E. Cohen
1866
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator)
associate of
Maude Edith Victoria Fleay
1869
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Painter)
The Season of Stress and Toil
Date
1895
The Australian Landscape
1972- 1973
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
"The Australian Landscape" was a national touring exhibition organised by the Australian Gallery Directors' Council in 1972. The organising gallery was the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the curators were Daniel Thomas (Art Gallery of New South Wales) Ian North (Art Gallery of South Australia) and Frances McCarthy [later Lindsay] (National Gallery of Victoria). Generous funding from the Peter Stuyvesant foundation enabled the curators to travel the country together in order to make considered judgements. The exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of South Australia on 3 March 1972, and toured to the Western Australian Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Australian National Gallery (temporary premises), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle City Art Gallery, and the Queensland Art Gallery. The catalogue introduction claims that the exhibition comprised of 'fifty-five of the best Australian landscapes ever executed'. It was characterised by a breadth of vision, with works from every state – including regional galleries and private collections. It is distinguished by having a greater emphasis on colonial works than previous exhibitions, and elevating the reputation of Eugene Von Guerard and John Glover. There were only two works by women – Grace Cossington Smith and Margaret Preston– and none by any Aboriginal artist.
Citations:
  • Moore, William, (1934), The Story of Australian Art, 2 vols, (Place: Sydney, NSW : Angus & Robertson (facsimile reprint, 1980))
  • MacDonald, J.D., (c.1920), The Art and Life of David Davies, (Place: Melbourne, Victoria)
  • (1998), The Season of Stress and Toil (illustration), Christie's Australia catalogue, Australian and European Paintings, April 27 and 28, lot 124, (Place: Melbourne, Victoria)
  • Bruce, Candice, (1981), David Davies, (Australian Dictionary of Biography), Type: article http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/davies-david-5907
  • Clark, Jane; & Whitelaw, Bridget, (1985), Golden summers : Heidelberg and beyond, (Place: Melbourne, Vic : International Cultural Corporation of Australia)
  • Thomas, D., North, I., & McCarthy F., (1972), The Australian Landscape, (Published by the Art Gallery of South Australia), Type: catalogue