Alan Davie was a Scottish painter, jeweller and musician born in 1920 whose interest in jazz and spirituality informed his approach to painting. Widely admired and respected by fellow artists, he was appointed CBE in 1972 and elected a Senior Royal Academician in 2012, just two years before his death in Hertfordshire in 2014.
In a timeous tribute to someone regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Dovecot Studios will present a centenary exhibition celebrating his work entitled Alan Davie: Beginning of a Far Off World.
Alan Davie: Beginning of a Far Off World is the only exhibition being held in Scotland to mark the artist’s centenary. It takes its title from a 1949 monotype that will feature in the show alongside paintings, drawings and archive material from the private collections of Davie’s friends and peers. From early paintings as a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art to drawings made during the last year of his life, each decade of his career will be conveyed by a relevant work.
On display will be a tapestry (Cosmic Spiral) and a rug (Celtic Spirit II), both of which were created in 2003 in collaboration with Dovecot Studios. These works followed a tapestry commission for the Chancellor’s Building at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh and are examples of Davie’s multidisciplinary approach and artistic commitment to the spiritual and mythic qualities of art. These two particular works, which will be available to purchase, allow a further reading of Davie’s interest in international cultures and indigenous craft.
Director of Dovecot Studios, Celia Joicey, said “Alan Davie is hugely important in 20th British art and we are delighted to mark his centenary with an exhibition that will chart his evolution as an artist. Dovecot enjoyed a creative relationship with Davie which is demonstrated through an incredible tapestry and hand-crafted rug, and we see this as a moment to pay homage to an artist whose position within modern art should be celebrated.”
This exhibition is fittingly curated by Edinburgh College of Art graduate Siobhan McLaughlin with the support of Dovecot Exhibition Curator Kate Grenyer.
Alan Davie: Beginning of a Far Off World will show at Dovecot Studios
Monday to Saturday 10am till 5pm from 22 January until 6 March 2021
Admission free
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 