Alan Davie in Hertford

A new book about Alan Davie (1920-2014) challenges the idea that he was a historical figure defined by the abstract expressionist era of the Fifties and early Sixties and argues that he was a prophetic artist whose preoccupations with universal creativity and self-realization are more relevant today than ever. The book is lavishly illustrated with rare archive photographs and little-seen paintings and includes a catalogue of 40 works intended as the new gallery's core collection.

Format: Hardback
Length: 112 pages
Publication date: 07 April 2022
Publisher: Unicorn Publishing Group

This groundbreaking publication offers a fresh perspective on the renowned Scottish artist Alan Davie (1920-2014), whose intensely physical gestural painting shook the staid post-war British art world to its core. In anticipation of a new Davie gallery in Hertford, the visually stunning book argues that far from being an essentially historical figure, defined by the abstract expressionist era of the Fifties and early Sixties when he enjoyed his greatest fame, Davie was a prophetic artist whose preoccupations with universal creativity and self-realization are more relevant today than they have ever been. Lavishly illustrated with rare archive photographs and little-seen paintings, Alan Davie in Hertford demonstrates that Davies visionary art was far more closely bound up with physical places than is generally supposed, not least the quiet market town of Hertford, where he lived for 60 years. A catalogue of 40 works intended as the new gallery's core collection provides a "rich and fabulous" survey of Davies' work, from his student works of the Thirties to some of his very last paintings.

Dimension: 280 x 230 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781914414558