Alan Davie

Visual Artist

1920 –

41

Who is Alan Davie?

James Alan Davie is a Scottish painter and musician. He was born in Grangemouth and studied at Edinburgh College of Art in the late 1930s. An early exhibition of his work came through the Society of Scottish Artists.

After the Second World War, Davie played tenor saxophone in the Tommy Sampson Orchestra, which was based in Edinburgh but broadcast and toured in Europe. Davie travelled widely and in Venice became influenced by other painters of the period, such as Paul Klee, Jackson Pollock and Joan MirĂ³, as well as by a wide range of cultural symbols. In particular, his painting style owes much to his affinity with Zen. Having read Eugen Herrigel's book Zen in the Art of Archery he assimilated the spontaneity which Zen emphasises. Declaring that the spiritual path is incompatible with planning ahead, he has attempted to paint as automatically as possible, which is intended to bring forth elements of his unconscious. In this, he shares a vision with surrealist painters such as MirĂ³, and he has also been fascinated by the work of psychoanalyst Carl Jung.

Like Pollock, many of Davie's works have been executed by standing above the painting, which is laid on the ground. He adds layers of paint until sometimes the original painting has been covered over many times. Despite the speed at which he works, however, he is adamant that his images are not pure abstraction, but all have significance as symbols. Championing the primitive, he sees the role of the artist as akin to that of the shaman, and has remarked upon how disparate cultures have adopted common symbols in their visual languages.

We need you!

Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!

Born
Sep 28, 1920
Grangemouth
Also known as
  • James Alan Davie
Education
  • Edinburgh College of Art

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Alan Davie." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/alan_davie>.

Discuss this Alan Davie biography with the community:

0 Comments

    Browse Biographies.net