Gene Davis

B. 1920-1985 - Along with Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis, Howard Mehring, and Thomas Downing, Davis was part of the first generation of Washington color school or color field artists. Like the other members of the Washington Color School, Davis considered color a primary element in painting. The genesis of Davis's signature vertical stripe compositions began in 1952 with The Phillips Collection's Black Flowers (1952). Gene Davis's mature style, characterized by vertical stripes in discretely chosen hues placed in an edge-to-edge arrangement developed in 1959 with The Phillips Collection's Red Devil (1959). For his technique, Gene Davis was indebted to both Louis and Noland, both of whom were involved with the New York art world, particularly through the influential critic, Clement Greenberg. They transmitted the excitement and experimental nature of the New York art scene to Washington artists, particularly the new technique that Davis used in Red Devil—staining and soaking unprimed and unsized canvas with acrylic.