Artwork: Gene Davis, Two Part Blue, about 1964, magna, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Florence Coulson Davis
“I became convinced that the way to make really good art was to do the outrageous, the unexpected—to be a renegade. That was my philosophy—to explore the seemingly impossible in art, to do things that were new for their own sake, whether they were good or bad,” American artist Gene Davis (1920-1985) reveals in the sumptuous monograph Gene Davis (Arts Publisher, 1982).
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Indeed, throughout his life Davis left convention by the wayside. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he began his career as a sportswriter before covering the presidencies of Roosevelt and Truman. He was welcomed into the intimate circle, playing poker with President Truman on long trips across the United State. But proximity to power was not his dream. In his heart, he yearned to make art and although he couldn’t draw, in 1949 he began to paint.
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