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John Davies

John Davies was born in Cheshire in 1946. He studied painting at Hull and Manchester Colleges of Art 1963-67, followed by two years at the Slade School of Art. He was subsequently awarded a sculpture fellowship at Gloucester College of Art. He lives lives and works in Kent and London.

1970 Sainsbury Award
1980 Artists’ Camp at Kasauli, North India
1995 Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1999 National Portrait Gallery Commission for portrait of Lord Foster
2003 Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund Commission for portrait of Hans Böcker

One-Man Exhibitions

1972 Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1975 Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1980 Marlborough Fine Art, London
1981-82 Kunstverein, Hamburg; Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe
1983 Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
1984 Marlborough Fine Art, London
1985 Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich
1987 Prema, Gloucestershire
1989 Marlborough Gallery, New York
1992 Marlborough Graphics, London
1993 Marlborough Fine Art, London
1995 Centro de Arte Palacio Almundi, Murcia
1996 Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
1997 Marlborough Fine Art, London
1998 Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
1999 University Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Plymouth Arts Centre
2002 Marlborough Graphics, London
2004 Marlborough Fine Art, London
2004-05 Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao; Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia
2005 Marlborough Galería, Madrid
Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia
2006 Marlborough Graphics (10 May-3 June)
Arte Giani, Frankfurt (31 May-30 June)
Galeria Marta Traba, Fundação memorial da América Latina, São Paulo
2007 Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Dragão do Mar, Fortaleza, Brazil
Castell de Santa Bàrbara, Alicante
Galerie Giani-Leber, Frankfurt
2009-10 Marlborough, Barcelona
2012 Home Sweet Home, Marlborough Barcelona

Group Exhibitions

1973 8e Biennale de Paris
1974 12 Views of Mankind, MacRobert Centre, University of Stirling, Scotland
Critic’s Choice, selected by Marina Vaizey, Arthur Tooth and Sons, London
For the Last Time, Sammlung Ludwig, Neue Galerie, Aachen
British Sculptors Attitudes to Drawing, Sunderland Arts Centre
1975 British Exhibition, Art 6 ’75, Schweitzer Mustermesse, Basel
Body and Soul, Peter Moores Project 3, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1975-76 Museum of Drawers, Solothurn Museum, Switzerland ICC, Antwerp
Boymans-van-Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1976 Gallery Choice, Edinburgh and Glasgow
International Event 1972-1976, Venice Biennale
Drawings of People, Serpentine Gallery, London
1977 Documenta VI, Kassel
Real Life, Peter Moores Project 4, Liverpool
DATE DETAILS
1978 4th Indian Triennale, New Delhi
1979 Europaische Realistische Plastik, Kunsthalle, Bremen
3rd Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1980 The Human Factor: Sculpture made by 10 artists during the 70s, Arts Council Collection touring exhibition
1981 Bienal de Arte, Medellin, Colombia
Szenen der Volkskunst, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
Drawings and Watercolours by 13 British Artists, Marlborough Fine Art, London
1981-82 British Sculpture in the 20th Century, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1982 Aspects of British Art Today, (British Council) Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art and touring exhibition
1984 The British Show, Art Gallery of New South Wales and touring exhibition
The Hard-Won Image, Tate Gallery, London
From the Figure, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Sculptors’ Drawings, British Council touring exhibition
Masterpieces of Modern Sculpture, Marlborough Gallery, New York
1985 A Singular Vision, Paintings of the Figure by Contemporary British Artists, Arts Council touring exhibition
Human Interest, Fifty Years of British Art About People, Cornerhouse,
Manchester
1986-87 The Foundation Veranneman Invites Marlborough, Foundation Veranneman, Kruishouten, Belgium
1987-88 Viewpoint, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van Belgie, The British Council, Belgium
1988 The Face, The Arkansas Art Centre, Arkansas
Introducing with Pleasure, Gardner Art Centre, and Arts Council tour
Works on Paper by Contemporary Artists, Marlborough Fine Art, London
1988-89 100 Years of Art in Britain, Leeds City Art Gallery
1995 Kent Artists, Canterbury City Art Gallery
Altars, Canterbury Festival
Tendances de la Sculpture Contemporaine Figurative, Musée de Cambrai
1997 Bodyworks, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
Sculpture Park Goodwood
Cheltenham Art Fellows, Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum
Surrealism and After, The Gabrielle Keiller Collection, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Drawings, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
Claude Bernard Gallery, Paris
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
1999 Den Haag Sculptuur, Holland
2000 Elogio de lo Visible, Galería Marlborough, Madrid, travelling to: Centro Cultural Las Claras, Murcia; Centro Cultural Casa del Cordon, Burgos; Cultural Rioja, Logroňo
2000 Le Brun, Campbell, Oulton, Davies, Raab Galerie, Berlin
Conversation – an exhibition of figurative sculpture, Milton Keynes Gallery
2002 Contemporary British Sculpture from Goodwood, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
DATE As it Seems, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum (drawing exhibition curated by Roy Oxlade and Paul McKee)
2002-03 Les Jeux dans l’Art du XXème Siècle, Le Bellevue, Biarritz; Palacio de Montemuzo, La Lonja, Zaragoza
2003 Taktiken des Ego, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
2004 European Triennial of Small Scale Sculpture: Renaissance of the Statuette, Gallery of Murska Sobota, Slovenia
2005 Tate Sculpture: The Human Figure in British Art From Moore to Gormley, Millenium Galleries, Sheffield
Dialog Skulptur – Table and Chair, Drawings and Sculptures from the Deutsche Bank Collection, Galerie Kunstforum, Seligenstadt
Escultura y Paisaje, Fundación ASTROC, Castillo de Bendinat de Calvià, Palma, Mallorca (4 Aug.-16 Oct.)
2006 Important Mischief: British Sculpture from the 1960s and 70s,
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
A Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Graphics, London
2007 Gli Amici Pittori di Londra, Galleria Ceribelli, Bergamo
2008 British Surrealism & Other Realities: The Sherwin Collection, Museum of Modern Art (Mima), Middlesbrough
Galerie Giani-Leber, Frankfurt
One Way, One Ticket, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia
2009 British Surrealism in Context – A Collector’s Eye, Leeds Art Gallery
Frieze, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
This is Sculpture, Tate Liverpool
2009-10 Winter Journey, Art Space Gallery, London
2010 Works from the Tate Collection, Tate St Ives
Works on Paper in the IVAM Collection, selected by Barbara Rose,
Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia
2011 A Life in Art: Monika Kinley, Plymouth Arts Centre
Beyond The Human Clay, James Hyman Fine Art, London
Obras Maestras del Siglo XX en la Colección del IVAM, Moscow Museum of Modern Art
Accrochage de Groupe, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
Summer Show, Marlborough Barcelona
Biennale of Ushuaia, Argentina
United Enemies: The Problem of Sculpture in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
2013 Ego Yo Yo Mío Mío – Critic’s Choice, Juan Bufill, Marlborough Barcelona
Ut picture poesis. Correspondencias y Complicidades, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia
Artists Make Faces, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, curated by Monika Kinley
2014 British Surrealism Unlocked, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
2015 A Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Fine Art, London
Sculptures, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
Self, Turner Contemporary, Margate
2016 The Ingram Collection at the RGCP, Royal College of General Practitioners, London
Night in the Museum: Ryan Gander Curates the Arts Council Collection, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Bibliography

1972 Marina Vaizey, ‘John Davies’, Arts Review, vol. 24, No. 14
Robert Melville, ‘The Human Condition’, Architectural Review, Vol. 152, No. 907
Jasia Reichardt, ‘John Davies’, Architectural Design, Vol. XLII, No. 11
1974 William Ferguson, ‘Sculptural Progression’, Times Educational Supplement, 15 April
1975 Paul Overy, The Times, 25 November
1976 Catherine Lampert, Studio International, January-February
Fenella Crichton, Studio International, February-March
1977 Hilary Chapman, ‘New British Sculpture’, Arts Review, January
Stern Magazine, June, pp. 33-35
Edward Lucie-Smith, Art Today, Phaidon
1979 ‘John Davies New Drawings’, London Magazine, December-January 1980
1980 John Russell-Taylor, ‘Sculptor’s Drawings With a Life of Their Own’, The Times, 24 March
Edward Lucie-Smith, Art in the Seventies, Phaidon
John Davies and Nicholas Wadley, Introduction, in John Davies, Recent Sculpture and Drawings, exhibition catalogue, Marlborough Fine Art, London, November-December
1981 Nicholas Wadley, ‘The Sculpture of John Davies’, Art International, January -February, Vol. XXIV, No. 5-6, pp. 147-157
Norbert Lynton, Introduction in John Davies, Werke 1970-1980, exhibition catalogue, Kunstverein in Hamburg, August-September
1982 ‘John Davies’ Studio’, Studio International, Vol. 195, No. 993/4, pp. 79-85
Michael Peppiatt and Alice Bellony Rewald, Imagination’s Chamber – Artists and their Studios, Little Brown and Co., Boston, p. 221
Patrick Kinmouth, ‘Watching and Waiting’, Vogue Magazine, September
1984 Heidi Bürklin, ‘John Davies’, Art das Kunstmagazin, May, pp. 111-113
‘John Davies Portfolio’, NWT Nieuw Wereldtydschrift, July, pp. 20-25
1985 Graham Beal, Introduction, in John Davies Sculptures and Drawings 1968-1984, exhibition catalogue, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, April-June
1987 Edward Lucie-Smith, Sculpture Since 1945, Phaidon
1989 Norbert Lynton, Introduction in John Davies, exhibition catalogue,
Marlborough Gallery, New York, April
1993 Simon Corbin, ‘John Davies’, What’s on in London 7-14 April
1996 Michael Simpson, ‘This Life and Others’, Whitworth Art Gallery,
Manchester, exhibition catalogue Still
1997 Elizabeth Cowling, Surrealism and After, The Gabrielle Keiller Collection exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Michael Harrison, Introduction in Bodyworks, exhibition catalogue,
Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, January-March
2004-5 Andrew Dempsey, Timothy Hyman, Javier Viar, Kosme de Barañano, John Davies, in John Davies, Sculptures and drawings since 1968, exhibition catalogue, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, October 2004-January 2005; Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, March-May 2005
2004 J.A. González Carrera, ‘John Davies y el devenir del hombre moderno’, El Correo – Territorios, 13 October
F.C.S., ‘Más allá del ‘tempo’ moderno, El Pais, 16 October
Eva Larrauri, ‘Nada es más fascinante que la figura humana’, El Pais,
18 October
J.A. González Carrera, ‘John Davies y el teatro de vivir’, El Correo, 19
October
Eva Larrauri, ‘El escultor John Davies muestra su obsession por la figura Humana en su primera antológica’, El Pais, 19 October
‘El BBAA acoge el personal mundo de John Davies’, Gara, 19 October
Altzol San Sebastian, ‘El escultor de la figura, el alma y el espíritu humano’, El Mundo, 19 October
Maite Redondo, ‘John Davies El escultor ingles “conversa” con sus figures humanas en la sale BBK del Museo Bilbao’ Deia, 19 October
Alicia Fernández, ‘John Davies, en cuerpo y alma’, ABC- Blanco y Negro, 30 October
Jose Javier Fernández, ‘La condición humana’, Diario Vasco, 26 November
X.Sáenz de Gorbea Zarrabeitia, ‘Inexpresionismo’, Deia, 4 December
2005 Victor Zarza, ‘El cuerpo/signo’, Blanco y Negro Cultural, 26 February
‘El IVAM exhbibe la mayor retrospective de Europa sobre la escultura ‘visionaria y excéntrica’ del británico John Davies’, Siglo XXI, El Diario Digital, 10 March
‘John Davies reinventa la humanidad’, Levante, 11 March
Rafa Marí, ‘John Davies expone en el IVAM su primera antológica en España’, Diario de Valencia, 11 March
Marta Moreira, ‘El IVAM descubre la solitaria humanidad del escultor John Davies’, ABC, 11 March
F.B., ‘John Davies reflectiona sobre la figura humana en sus esculturas’, El País, 11 March
2009 Juan Bufill, ‘Primera Muestra de John Davies en Barcelona’, La Vanguardia, 28 November
Noèlia Hernández, ‘Un mundo extraño’, La Vanguardia, 16 December
Juan Bufill, ‘Cuatro Cabezas Aislades’, El Dinero, 27 December
2012 Josep Lambles, ‘Això no és un espantaocells’, Time Out Barcelona, 15-21 June
Juan Bufill, ‘La casa del cuerpo’, La Vanguardia, 24 June
Noélia Hernández, ‘Algo de nosotros mismos’, La Vanguardia, 11 July
N.M., ‘John Davies’, Arte y Parte, August-September , No. 100
2013 Carlos García-Osuna, ‘Plasmando el ego’, La Vanguardia, 8 September

Public Collections

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
British Council, London
British Museum, London
Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art
Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford
Contemporary Art Society, London
Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund, Berlin
Ferens Art Gallery, Hull City Museums and Gallery
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Fundación Sorigué, Lleida
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia
Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao
Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague
Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
National Portrait Gallery, London
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
Queensland Art Gallery, Melbourne
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Tate Gallery, London
Tokushima Museum, Japan
Ulster Museum, Belfast
University of the Punjab, India
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester
Wigan Art Gallery
Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
York City Art Gallery