Alan Davie

Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York, 10 December 1960
Sotheby's, London, The Eye of a Collector, 14 June 2001, lot 50, where purchased by Christopher Cone

New York, Catherine Viviano Gallery, Alan Davie, 5 - 23 November 1957, no.2
Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, The Stanley J. Seeger Jr. Collection, 1961, no.64, illustrated
Glasgow, McKellan Galleries, Alan Davie Retrospective, 1992, un-numbered catalogue, illustrated

Alan Bowness (ed.), Alan Davie, London, 1967, no.136, pl.29, illustrated
Douglas Hall & Michael Tucker, Alan Davie, London, 1992, no.174, pl.12, illustrated

The following condition report has been prepared by Phil Young of PYPC Ltd Studio 3 Nutbrook Studios 33 Nutbrook Street London SE15 4JU. The painting was examined in the frame in normal and UV lights. It is in a good and sound condition and there was no evidence of restoration. CONDITION The hardboard support is held against a fixed timber stretcher at the back, this is not attached to the board across the centre but is likely to be attached with pins through the board (prior to painting) at the edges. The stretcher is certainly contemporary if not original, as is the frame. The frame is a simple gilded section partly covering the edges of the board. The board has a general and inevitable outwards or convex distortion due to it not being held or supported across the centre. As it is quite flexible, this is commonly and easily resolved with minimal intervention. There appears to be a fairly general varnish layer over the surface, and given the history of the painting this is likely to have been applied by the artist, and has areas where the surface has gaps and misses in the varnish as seen on other works. The varnish has yellowed, and where the painting is concealed by the frame rebate has yellowed less (rather than the varnish having been applied when the frame was attached, which seems unlikely). Where the varnish is missing, the paint appears relatively pale and matte. The frame edge has left some points and lines of light abrasion around the edges, and some crushing of the board corners can be seen in the lower left and upper right, behind the frame. The frame is flexible and does not cover the edges evenly. Dust and dirt cover the paint surface and some points of impasto have been slightly flattened, this does not necessarily indicate past fitting of glazing; flattening and paint transfer are seen on many of the artist's works and relate to how they were handled and stored by the artist. There is some fine scratching in the lower sections but this is superficial. TREATMENT The painting would improve significantly in appearance with simple surface cleaning to remove dirt and the surface bloom. The varnish is likely to be by the artist and should not be removed or disturbed without evidence to the contrary; the appearance is good and consistent.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

“This is painting from the guts, and it is this sensation of the work welling out of the artist’s unconscious in an astonishing and even disquieting fashion that remains so strong. Few artists have ever given quite this reminder of the essentially physical, even dirty and messy, nature of painting.”
Alan Bowness in Alan Davie, London 1967 p.173

The fifties proved to be a hugely fruitful decade for Davie, peaking in his most productive year, 1956, in which he completed over fifty pictures. Following a practice developed in his brush drawings of the early 1950s, Davie began making paintings in series, most notably the Image of the Fish God and Woman Bewitched by the Moon. The present painting is the largest painting of the series consisting of five works; of the remainder (executed on board), the second is in the National Gallery Scotland and the other three remain in private collections. Other works from this productive year were acquired later in the 1950s by the British Council and the Tate, both of which now hold substantial collections of Davies’ work.

As with many of his major works, the title of Woman Bewitched by the Moon highlights the influence of Davie’s interest in magic and primitive spiritualism. In his 1960 essay ‘Towards a New Definition of Art’, Davie wrote, ‘magic is the outcome of art and only later did the artist take up the position of maker of objects for magical rites, the natural outcome of this recognition’ (Alan Davie exhibition catalogue, Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zurich, April – May 1960).  Fuelled by visits to the primitive collections held by the major New York museums, Davie’s fascination with prehistoric art stemmed from his belief in man’s common aesthetic sensibility which could be traced back to the work of the artists of the ancient civilisations. Alan Bowness described the twisting, violent figure at the centre of the painting as less recognisably female than ‘more precisely anthropomorphic; to use one of Davie’s own titles – part God, part animal, with some suggestion of human characteristics’ (Alan Davie, London 1967, p.173). Even the moon itself is on the verge of being drawn into the chaotic centre, evoking the traditional belief in the strong influence of lunar forces on the female psyche.

Davie’s appointment as the Gregory Fellow in Painting at Leeds University in the same year as the present work allowed him to paint full time. Although Davie had developed his own practice independently during his travels around Europe, his chance encounter with Peggy Guggenheim in Venice in 1948 led to his engagement with the work of the New York avant-garde. Guggenheim was struck by the originality of Davie’s style, and introduced him to the contemporary American art in her own exhibition at the first Biennale since the war. His interest in the duality between order and chaos and the influence of the random, which increased with his exposure to the atomic physicists in Leeds who were exploring the scientific understanding of the ‘uncertainty principle’, had a clear affinity with Pollock’s work, and he met the artist in person during his visit to New York in 1956. Parallels have also been drawn with Willem de Kooning’s work of the fifties and his Woman series, although revisited in Davie’s own distinctive style. While the execution remains equally bold, this female figure moves even further from the figurative, and the richly textured surface teems with shapes and symbols outlined broadly in black, casting a striking contrast to the indistinct darkness beyond. Rather than simply presenting the subject, Davie’s work, to use the words of Andrew Patrizio, instead ‘evokes a space where living forms and sounds might emerge from the dark; a place ultimately of illumination and potentiality’ (Jingling Space, Leeds 2003, p.13).