American Contemporary Artist (1910-1979)

Lew Davis, one of the founders of the Arizona art community, was often referred to as the "Dean of Arizona Artists."  His career spanned half a century, and produced scores of paintings and lithographs which have found their way into many prominent museums and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Davis first gained national recognition during the depression era with his portrayal of local miners in his birthplace, Jerome, Arizona.  His paintings, which were commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department Art Project, are strong, direct, and clear.  They gave an intimate glimpse into the life of hardship in the copper mines.  Now of historical value, these paintings are often tagged with the term, "social realism."  Davis, who personally knew and understood the miners said, "It doesn't matter what its called, I just painted miners."

Davis left Arizona at the age of 17 to study at the National Academy of Design in New York.  He then taught art in New Jersey for three years before returning to his beloved Arizona, where he remained until his death.  A stint in the army in 1942 found Davis in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, producing silk screen posters of Negro soldiers to boost the morale of Negro troops.  He also began a newspaper which became the Negro Army Newspaper.  For these endeavors he was awarded the Legion of Merit, and was also credited with helping influence President Truman's decision to desegregate the Army.  After the war, and a move to the desert, Davis' artistic vision was changed.  He began experimenting with geometric planes and color and his work became more abstract.

Davis always felt he must get to know his subject intimately, yet he never painted the same thing twice.  He said, "What I paint I have to love; then I explore it and abandon it because I have nothing else to say about it."  Nature was the one thing he loved as much as his native state.  He was fascinated with all aspects of it.  At one point, he studied lichen and followed its life cycle for one year.  When he decided to paint rocks, he said, "It took me a very short time to arrange them, but it took me a long time to paint them because I didn't know those rocks."  Yet many years later, he was able to paint his famous horse series from memory because he knew horses so well.

Whatever Davis painted; from horses, cactus, rocks, landscapes, boulders, animal skulls, and owls, to symbols of suns, moons, and stars; he sought to share and clarify his insights.  His images are deceptively simple and full of lush color.  He often painted the space between an image rater than the image itself.  "I don't really paint horses, I paint the spaces between the horse and they turn out a horse."  He explains the difference between an illustration and a painting.  "An illustration is a picture of something you already know.  A work of art should tell you something you never knew before."

Lew Davis and his wife, sculptor Mathilde Schaefer Davis, were instrumental in bringing culture to the desert via the Arizona Arts Association.  They brought in major exhibitions for the first time in the history of the state, taught classes and gave lectures on art.  Davis opened the windows to art in Arizona.