Davis - "Untitled Serigraph" Serigraph depicting many vertical stripes in different colors

Gene Davis • American (1920-1985)

Untitled Serigraph • Serigraph on Paper 78" x 41.5"

Once upon a time, Gene Davis was a White House Correspondent and professional journalist. He interviewed Franklin Delano Roosevelt, played poker with Harry Truman, and he lost at least one job when caught in a compromising position with a woman. Fortunately he had other career options.

Inspired by a 1949 article on Van Gogh, he promptly marched out of his Washington home and visited Muth’s Paint Store, where he bought a set of oil paints. Lack of training hadn’t stopped him from becoming a successful journalist, and he didn’t see it as a roadblock to an art career, either.

Although his only formal art training was high school art classes, he was long fascinated by modern art, especially the work of Paul Klee, the European modernist noted for his use of boldly colored geometric shapes. While working as a Washington-based journalist, Davis regularly visited the Klee Room at the Philips Museum. Only three years after taking up art seriously, Davis already had the first solo show of his work at the Dupont Theatre, one of the few Washington galleries showing local artists during the McCarthy era that fused the words “avant-garde art” with “communist”.

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Following the popular trend, he started as an Abstract Expressionist, but couldn’t follow the crowd for long. Rebeling against the free-wheeling drip-paintings and random abstraction expressions, he developed a more formal abstract style built around color and hard-edged stripes. “I don’t consider myself a non-objective artist. I have very, very strong subject matter in my work, which is stripes. A stripe is just as real as a ##$%?!! flower.”

And so Davis went about creating what are basically color studies using stripes. Fat stripes. Skinny stripes. Straight stripes. Stripes of every color. His work became so popular, Philadelphia had him paint a 3 block long street in front of the Museum of Art in multi-colored stripes. The Corcoran Museum in Washington had his stripes painted on two facing entry walls. The work of this untrained artist began appearing in leading museums around the world, including Canton, Ohio. Shortly after Gene Davis died at age 65, his native city of Washington D.C., the capitol of the most powerful nation on earth, had 8th St. painted in multi-colored stripes to honor his memory.

Not half bad for a fellow who never liked to live his life between the lines.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Purchased by the Canton Museum of Art, 74.14

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“When he painted stripes on the street leading up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1972, it was the largest artwork in world history. Size matters.”

2.
“He had a 29 year career as a journalist that started when he lied about his age, phonied up a resume and got hired as a sportswriter. Insert sports writer joke here.”

3.
“His sports writing career hit a bump when he blew off a Washington Redskins game to date a girl and tried to write his story from the radio broadcast. Didn’t work.”

4.
“His only formal art training was some high school art classes, yet he became one of the most respected modern artists. Insert modern artist joke here.”

Davis Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1920

Born in Washington, D.C.

1929

Around this time, he did some drawings and sent them into the Washington Post’s Children’s Page. Several were published and he remembered the $1 prize as the thrill of a lifetime.

1935-39

He took several drawing courses while in high school and remembered doing a charcoal drawing of Paderewski, his mother’s favorite pianist. She quite liked the drawing, but he was more interested in writing at the time and began submitting poetry to various publications.

1939

Talked his way into a sports writing job at the Washington Daily News by inflating a resume and lying about his age. When he was offered a 6 week trial, he ran to Bretano’s Book Store and bought a book named Interpretive Reporting and speed read it overnight. Somehow he stuck and his career even survived blowing off coverage of a Washington Redskins football game to keep a date with a girl.

1939-42

Attended Maryland University in Baltimore. There he studied Liberal Arts. During this time he had a number of poems published in magazines like Florida Magazine of Verse.

1943

Attended Wilson Teacher College in Washington, D.C.

1940s

Spent this decade in a series of journalism jobs, including copy boy and cub reporter at the New York Times. Lost at least one job when found in a compromising position with women. He also spent a lot of time at the Philips Museum in Washington, studying the work of modern artists.

1949

Inspired after reading an article about Vincent Van Gogh, he began painting as a hobby, eventually creating a studio in his home. He struck up a friendship with professional artist, Jacob Kainen, who greatly encouraged his talent.

1952

Had his first solo show of his artwork at the Dupont Theatre in Washington, D.C. At the time, he was painting in the style of an Abstract Expressionist. The Dupont was one of the only places that would show avant-garde art at a time when Joseph McCarthy had tarred most artists with the “communist” label.

Late 1958

Looking for something different that the Abstract Expressionist art of the day, he began a series of color studies with sharp-edged stripes. This became the dominant theme of his artwork for the rest of his life.

1962

Participated in the “Washington Color Painters” exhibit at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art in Washington, D.C. This exhibit traveled around the country, establishing the Washington Color Painters as a regional movement.

1964

Creates Black Grey Beat, one of his best known works. It repeats a series of colors in a rhythmic pattern that gives the viewer an almost musical sense. It is now owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

1965

Awarded a Bronze Medal for Painting at the Biennial Exhibition of American Painting, staged by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

1966

Began teaching at the Corcoran School of Art where he eventually became a permanent member of the faculty.

1968

This was the year art became his career rather than a hobby as he quit his journalism career for good.

1972

Created Franklin’s Footpath, a series of colorful stripes on a 3-block section of street in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At the time, it was the world’s largest artwork and was executed with the help of numerous volunteers, including many Philadelphia gang members.

1985

Died of a heart attack in his hometown of Washington, D.C. Two years later, Washington honored him by painting a section of 8th St. in his trademark multi-colored stripes.