derek davis: a retrospective – march 2013

Derek Davis

Derek Davis Catalogue A5:Layout 1 8/3/13 12:40

Derek Davis: A Retrospective

at the Zimmer Stewart Gallery

with thanks to Ruth and Josse Davis.


Derek Davis: A Retrospective | 3

Cover: Reading at the Pool - acrylic on canvas 50 x 50 cm

Opposite left: At the Pool - acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 cm

Opposite right: Maze (1970’s) - slab build stoneware dish 27 cm diameter

Drinks on the Terrace - acrylic on canvas - 50 x 50 cm


ForewordI first met Derek Davis shortly after opening theZimmer Stewart Gallery in May 2003, although Iwas aware of him and his work before this.

Derek Davis was a great source of support forme, he came to almost every opening and wasone of my first customers. He would also come inat quiet times during the week and talk about hiswork, the work on show or another artist who hethought I might be interested in. These visits werean important part of my development as a galleryowner, especially since my starting point was as anart appreciating accountant having no experienceof either working with artists, putting on shows ordealing with the general public.

He would share his vision for Arundel, which herepeated to me over the years. Derek Davisthought the town had the potential to becomethe “St Ives of the South”. In the fifty or so yearsthat he lived here, his support and encouragement

Two Figures 1950

Derek Davis in his studio

4 | Derek Davis: A Retrospective


for artists helped this dream get closer to being achieved. In the late 1970’s Derek openedArundel’s first contemporary gallery in his studio on Tarrant Street. This was called the DuffGallery after the house he lived in with his wife, also a painter Ruth and son, ceramicistJosse.

With Ann Sutton, Oliver Hawkins and Renee Bodimeade he founded the Arundel GalleryTrail in 1988, now a mainstay of the annual Arundel Festival. It attracts new artists each year,as well as providing a platform for developing “home grown” artists, who then go on to dowell nationally.

His Monday night Life Drawing classes took place in the studio without fail. Here artistscould gather to do quick life drawings; poses were held for just a short time, sometimes aslittle as five minutes to improve drafting skills. Derek Davis saw life drawing as the basis ofall art and fundamental to creativity.

Although he trained as a painter, Derek Davis worked with clay for most of his career,experimenting with form; creating turned pots with altered shapes, abstract pieces andhammock moulded dishes.

We at Zimmer Stewart Gallery were privileged to have known and worked with DerekDavis for a short time, but his career spanned sixty years. This exhibition, marking our tenthyear anniversary, will just be able to show a small selection of works from this groundbreaking, innovative and thought provoking artist described in one of his obituaries as “oneof the pioneers of postwar ceramics, internationally respected for his stoneware andporcelain”

James Stewart, Gallery Director, Zimmer Stewart Gallery

Looks Like Rain Today - acrylic on canvas - 90 x 60 cm




Abstract I - hammock moulded

porcelain dish - 25 cm diameter

Abstract II - hammock moulded


Abstract III - hammock moulded

porcelain dish - 24 x 21 cm

Abstract IV - hammock moulded


All 1990’s



Abstract I - acrylic on canvas - 30 x 30 cm



Derek Davis – His Life and CareerBorn in London, Derek Davis camefrom a long line of craftsmen. Hisfather and grandfather both ownedumbrella shops in south London (inPeckham, London Bridge and ClaphamJunction). He grew up in a musicalhousehold: His father was a talentedmusician who played the cello and thepiano, and together with his mother,who played the violin, his sister Jeanon piano and two uncles, they formedsomething of a family orchestra. Derekinherited the family's love of music andwas passionate and knowledgeableabout jazz, particularly the blues.

His education was interrupted bythe second world war and he went toseveral schools: first Emmanuel school,Wandsworth, and then to schools inCaterham and Oxted, Surrey. Onleaving school in 1943, he joined theKing's Royal Rifle Corps.

Derek had known from an early agethat he wanted to be an artist. Afterthe war and encouraged by a cousinwho went to the Slade School of Art,he qualified for a grant to the CentralSchool of Arts and Crafts. This enabledhim to study painting and sculpturewith fashion drawing for three yearsfrom 1945. There he met the potterEric James Mellon, who was tobecome a lifelong friend and fellowresident of West Sussex.

In 1947 Derek Davis and Eric Mellonvisited Paris where they saw manyexhibitions, in particular the work ofMatisse and Picasso. Both of theseartists bridged the art/craft divide, aninfluence that would stay with Derekfor the rest of his career.

On leaving the Central, he had briefteaching jobs, but Britain in 1950 was

Birds - acrylic on canvas - 30 x 30 cm

Pills II - acrylic on canvas - 30 x 30 cm



not conducive to the arts and both heand Mellon felt they needed a moreconstructive way of making a livingthan painting. Pottery seemed to be aviable proposition, but having notechnical knowledge of ceramics, theyengaged the help of a friend, JohnClarke, a painter who had studiedceramics. Together they bought a kilnand rented a vicarage in the hamlet ofHillesden, Buckinghamshire. Here,along with three talented youngwomen artists - Ruth Lambert, MartinaThomas and Mary Mansfield, who laterbecame their wives - they started tomake pots, calling themselves theHillesden Group.

The setting up of the Crafts Centreof Great Britain in 1948, followed 10years later by the Craftsmen PottersAssociation, did much at this time topromote the work of studio potterssuch as Derek. The early 1950sheralded a renaissance of crafts, andnew craft shops and galleries soldtheir works. In 1953 Derek began todo work for the gallery Primavera,London, owned and run by HenryRothschild.

The Hillesden Group disbanded in1955 when Derek and Ruth, and Ericand Martina, moved to Sussex. It wasabout this time that Derek met thesculptor John Warren-Davis. Acontemporary and acquaintance ofBarbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson,Warren-Davis told Derek that duringthe liberation of Paris in 1945, he hadmet the sculptor Brancusi, and that thismeeting changed his life. Warren-Davis's influence on Derek in turnaffected a change in direction,allowing him to see things from a newperspective.

Abstract Trees - acrylic on board - 60 x 60 cm

Apples I - acrylic on board - 75 x 75 cm



During the 1940’s and 50’s Derekpushed the boundaries of clay. At thistime most potters followed theteachings of Bernard Leach, for whomform was determined as much byfunction as aesthetics. Not so forDerek, his imagination andinquisitiveness for materials, led toconcepts and ideas not usuallyassociated with clay, but more clearlyaligned with fine art. He did alsoproduce many functional pieces forcraft shops, like Primavera, Heals andLiberty.

The 1960s were a fruitful andsuccessful time for Derek. In 1960 hejoined the Arts and Crafts ExhibitionSociety and showed for the first timeat the Victoria and Albert Museum,exhibiting some of his last terracottapieces. Thereafter he concentrated onmaking stoneware and by 1963 haddeveloped the sang de boeuf andaubergine glazes for which he isrenowned. The development of hissignature, vivid turquoise-blue bariumglaze, followed in 1970 and is closelyassociated with his work of thisperiod.

Alongside these, Derek producedgreat sculptural pieces – objects,reliefs and murals. It was at this timehe also created a ceramic floor for thearchitect John Lacey.

During the autumn of 1967 Derekwas artist in residence at SussexUniversity, an experimental timeculminating in a lecture and twoexhibitions. Exhibitions worldwidefollowed as his reputation grew, and in1976 Sir Roy Strong selected Derekand his fellow potter Mary Rogers torepresent the "Spirit of the 70s" for anexhibition at the V&A. Exhibiting in

Abstract dish (1970’s) - slab build stonewaredish - 28 x 21 x 5 cm

Vase (1980’s) - narrow based stonewarecylinder - X x X cm

Abstract Bottle (1980’s) - stoneware bottle -26 cm high



prestigious galleries such as PeterDingley in Stratford-upon-Avon andAmalgam in London assured Derek aplace alongside the likes of Lucie Rieand Ruth Duckworth as one of themost prominent potters of thedecade.

By the late 1970s he had ceased tothrow and concentrated on hand-builtpieces, sophisticated shapesdeveloped from studying modernsculpture, decorated with themes ofsocial comment. Moving from clayback to paper and canvas seemed anatural progression, and in 1991 hefinally stopped working in clay toconcentrate on his painting.

Released from the uncertainty ofopening the kiln, Derek enjoyed thespontaneity of colour and paint andthe freedom of immediateexpression. As with his ceramicsDerek’s paintings were both abstractand figurative. The latter often beingon the subject of love andrelationships, his paintings often invitethe viewer to consider the "story"being portrayed in the figurativeworks.

Derek exhibited widely includingtwo further times at the V&A,throughout the UK, Europe, the USAand Japan.

His work is in a number of publicand private collections including theV&A.

For much of this text I amindebted to Carolyn Genders,without whose book we would nothave a record of many of Derek’sown words on his work covering along and fruitful career. Those whoknew him will miss his warmth,enthusiasm and support.

At the Dressing Table (1980’s) - hammockmoulded porcelain dish - 28 x 21 cm

Harmony - acrylic on canvas - 30 x 30 cm

Woman in the Yellow Dress (1990’s) -Hammock moulded porcelain dish - 34 x 34 cm



Beach Club - acrylic on

canvas - 70 x 70 cm

Celia Getting Healthy -

acrylic on canvas -

86 x 76 cm



Derek Davis – His WorkThe ceramics in this exhibition spannearly 50 years from the abstract slipmoulded rubbed iron stonewarepieces through porcelain decorativeware to figurative hammock mouldedporcelain dishes.

The paintings are more recent,covering the period from the mid-1990’s when he stopped makingceramics.

The works demonstrate how thesame subjects/compositions werepresented on both pots andpaintings: Swimming, abstract formsand relationships. As always blurringthe line between fine art and craft.

Derek Davis was a keen swimmerand swam most days often withlifelong friend Celia Henderson.

The abstract designs, and somefigurative works, play with theconcepts of positive and negativespace, light and dark, black andwhite.

A full list of all works to beincluded in this Retrospective isavailable on request.

Apples II - acrylic on

canvas - 30 x 30 cm

Snakes - acrylic on canvas - 40 x 30 cm

The Chase - acrylic on canvas - 50 x 50 cm



Abstract V - large hammock moulded


Mixed Bathing - hammock moulded


Swimming Pool - hammock moulded


All 1980’s



Forbidden Lovers (1990’s) - large hammock moulded porcelain dish - 40 x 48 cm


Derek Davis: A RetrospectiveZimmer Stewart Gallery

29 Tarrant St ArundelWest Sussex BN18 9DG

01903 [email protected]

www.zimmerstewart.co.uk


derek davis: a retrospective – march 2013

Documents

josse davis

derek davisthought

cmderek davis catalogue

s derek openedarundels

thezimmer stewart gallery

zimmer stewart gallerylooks

pool acrylic

gallery director