LEO DAVY (BRITISH 1924-1979)
CONCEPT
signed DAVY / 52 on the reverse
oil on board
61 x 30cm; 24 x 11 3/4in
unframed
LEO DAVY (LOTS 88-95)
Introduction
There have been those who seem to have been artists, almost it appears from the day of their birth; such people are incapable of deviating from their natural and compulsive obsession in a world of their own, a world in which their lives are entirely consistent with their work and their being are one and the same thing. Leo Davy was one of these.
Sir Kyffin Williams
Born on Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire, Davey was one of nine children. He refused to attend school with his siblings and instead was home schooled by his painter-art teacher father and musician mother. He became an accomplished artist and pianist early in his life and in his teens Davy entered one of his drawings into a national newspaper art competition; he won and at the age of 14 enrolled in the Kingston School of Art under Reginald Brill. Unable to be conscripted due to his inherited deafness, in 1942 he started at the Slade which had been evacuated to Oxford during the Blitz. One of only a few male students and with a keen interest in philosophy, Davy often sneaked into the university to attend lectures and made many friends among the philosophy students. Art was for him a philosophical enquiry. It was at the Slade that Davy met Kyffin Williams who had been invalided out of the army. Both men later became teachers, and lived for a while in Highgate North London. Williams was appointed Head of Art at Highgate School but Davy left teaching to concentrate on his art.
Often described as an outsider or unconventional in his approach to life he communicated best through his work. His art was a very personal manifestation of himself - his maxim being ‘to paint as only I can paint.’ Determined not to make a living from his painting he worked as a toolmaker and tomato picker while living in an abandoned coastguard’s cottage in Lancing and later became an accomplished framer and gilder, firstly in London and then living on the north Cornish coast with his wife Antonia. Davy spent most of his life surviving with very little money, moving from garret to garret in London as the archetypal bohemian artist. For the majority of his life he shieded away from the art world and was hostile to showing his work. In fact, he rarely exhibited at all and sometimes turned down prospective purchasers for his deeply personal works. However, in 1950 Davy’s work was included in a summer show at Gimpel Fils alongside the pre-eminent artists of the day including William Gear, Victor Pasmore, Prunella Clough, Alan Davie and Patrick Heron. Having spent most of his life refusing to travel in his later life he did visit Paris twice with Antonia. He was mesmerised by the city. Davy died unexpectedly of a heart attack at his home in North Cornwall in 1987.
Sold for £380
LEO DAVY (BRITISH 1924-1979)
CONCEPT
signed DAVY / 52 on the reverse
oil on board
61 x 30cm; 24 x 11 3/4in
unframed
Auction: From the Studio: Works from Eleven Artists' Estates, 12th Mar, 2025
Auction Location: London, UK
This one-of-a-kind auction focuses on the redisovery of 20th century artists, many of whom exhibited in leading West End galleries in their day, their works featuring in museums and art galleries around the world. All now deceased, with many having suffered undeserved obscurity since, their inclusion in From the Studio: Works from Artists' Estates puts the spotlight firmly back on them, to reveal a range of extraordinarily talented men and women.
Most of the artists were admired, promoted and written about by eminent 20th century art critics. Several were Jewish emigres, forced from their homelands to find their way anew in Britain and elsewhere. Many were close friends with other leading contemporary artists, sharing studios and ideas; some taught, several at the Royal College of Art. Throughout, their efforts both individually and together chart the myriad movements and counter movements that define the dynamic 20th century modernist landscape, ranging from Impressionism to Abstraction.
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 9th March:12pm to 4pm
Monday 10th March: 10am to 8pm
Tuesday 11th March: 10am to 5pm
AUCTION:
Wednesday 12th March 2025, 12pm, precisely
Contact the Pictures Department for further information | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | + 44 (0) 20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 9th March:12pm to 4pm
Monday 10th March: 10am to 8pm
Tuesday 11th March: 10am to 5pm
AUCTION:
Wednesday 12th March 2025, 12pm, precisely