British painter (1866–1941)
Mary Davis |
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Born | Mary Halford 22 March 1866
London, England |
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Died | 30 October 1941(1941-10-30) (aged 75)
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Nationality | British |
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Education | Ridley Art School |
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Known for | Painting |
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Title | Lady Davis |
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Spouse | Sir Edmund Davis (m. 1889–1939, his death) |
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Mary Davis, Lady Davis (née Halford; 22 March 1866 – 30 October 1941) was a British artist known as a designer and painter of fans.[1]
Biography
Davis was born in London and studied art at the Ridley Art School.[2] She exhibited landscape paintings and painted fans at the Royal Academy in London from 1886 onwards and at the Paris Salon from 1898.[2][1]
In 1914 Davis had a joint exhibition with Charles Conder, another noted fan artist of the time, in New York at the Colnaghi & Obach gallery.[3] In 1919 Davis shared an exhibition, entitled Pictures, Portraits, Fans and Frivolities, with Laura Anning Bell and Constance Rea at the Fine Art Society in London.[3]
Davis also exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, the Grosvenor Gallery and with both the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers.[3] The Tate holds an example of her painted fans.[4]
In 1889 she had married Edmund Davis, who was knighted in 1927.[2] Edmund Davis had made a fortune from mining in South Africa and when he settled in London, the couple began assembling a substantial art collection that included paintings by Old Masters, such as Canaletto and Rembrandt, plus more contemporary artists including Whistler.[3] The collection was exhibited to the public at the French Gallery in 1915.[5] They also commissioned artists, including Charles Conder, to decorate their Holland Park home and also Chilham Castle, which they owned until after Edmund's death in 1939.[6][4] In due course, the Davises donated works from their art collection to the Iziko South African National Gallery and to the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris.[3] They also donated some items to the Tate collection.[5]
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