Alan Davie

Gimpel Fils, London

The Astrup Collection, from whom acquired by the present owner

Alan Bowness, Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1967, no. 175

‘The more obstinately one tries to learn how to shoot for the sake of hitting the target, the less one will succeed. In the same way, as long as I am aware of my inability to paint exactly as I desire, I am paralysed by the very desire and only when I succeed in abolishing completely that desire can I create anything.’ (Alan Davie, from a lecture ‘The Creative act and Zen Buddhism,’ Institute for Contemporary Arts, London, 1956, quoted in Exh. Cat. St Ives, Tate, Alan Davie, Jingling Space, 2004, pp. 15-16)

Spoken only a year before his execution of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, this quote encapsulates the philosophy and spirituality that guided Alan Davie’s approach to painting and gives insight into his creative method.

In 1948 Davie travelled to Venice to visit the collection of Peggy Guggenheim. The work of American Abstract Expressionists in this collection was particularly influential on Davie’s practice. The drips of paint, applied freely from above, are in dialogue with the Jackson Pollocks that Davie engaged with during this time in Italy.

The removal of representation and movement towards abstraction immerses the viewer fully in Davie’s attempt to engage the viewer within a spiritual dimension. Interested in themes of religion and experience, Davie took inspiration from times and places as varied as ancient civilisations, Aboriginal art and Zen Buddhism. Davie allows the viewer to lose themselves within the painting: the swirling brushstrokes are mesmerizingly directionless, while the energetic pops of colour offer a sense of the elemental and primal.

Indeed, as Michael Tucker described, Davie saw his painting as ‘fundamentally the same as artists of remote times, … engaged in a shamanistic conjuring up of visions which will link us metaphorically with mysterious and spiritual forces normally beyond our apprehension.’ (Michael Tucker, ‘A company beyond time, Alan Davie at the Cobra Museum for Modern Art,’ in Alan Davie Schilderijen Paintings, 1950-2000, Amstelveen, The Cobra Museum for Moder Art, 1989, p. 13)

Taking inspiration from such a variety of place and time, and engaging with a wider human spiritual experience, Davie’s work continues to stand the test of time, awarding him an important place within Scottish modern and contemporary art.