William R. Davis

 Once you have seen a painting by William R. Davis, you will understand why Mr. Davis has a national reputation as one of the best marine artists presently working in the United States. William R. Davis was born 1952 in Somerville, Massachusetts, and grew up in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. He is a self-taught artist whose oil paintings typically capture the serene light of sunrise or sunset on the water. He employs many of the techniques traditionally used by American luminous painters to realize his personal vision, showing a marked preference for 19th century subjects.

Much of Davis' early work pays homage to 19th century artists such as James Bard, James Buttersworth, Martin Johnson Heade, Antonio Jacobsen and Fitz Hugh Lane.  He limits himself to about 30 colors in the palette of that period. He describes his style as "A conglomerate of a number of ideas I saw in other artists with my own refinements.” Over the years, he has incorporated his fascination for the different techniques of these artists to create his own unique style.

In a tribute to Martin Johnson Heade which appeared in the July 1991 issue of American Artist magazine, Davis refers to sunset as "the hour when night usurps day". He observes that this is the "best time of day for painters to capture the 'inner state' of a landscape" and represents "an unequaled opportunity to sensitize the eye to the delicate mysteries of light and shadow".

In the September, 1992 issue of Soundings, J. Russell Jinishian described Davis by saying "His work evokes the gentility and natural beauty of the 19th century, a time we look back on with some nostalgia as it was a time less complicated and more civilized".

 Cape Cod Life Collector's Edition named Davis as one of the Top 400 most influential, famous, and intriguing people on Cape Cod. Davis was also an invited panelist at the national conference on representational painting, sponsored by American Artist magazine held in the Summer of 2004. Bill had his first show at Richard Bourne Company in 1983 along with an artist friend Elizabeth Mumford (1950-2020). The show was well received and attended by Lee Remick and Jackie Onassis. This was the beginning of a very long list of shows all over the country. In 1987, Davis made history with the first one-artist show ever mounted at the prestigious Mystic Maritime Gallery in Mystic, Connecticut.  All twenty of the works featured in that show were sold at the opening reception. In 1990 he received the Mystic Maritime Gallery Award of Excellence and his painting entitled "Calm Day off Latimer's Reef" appeared on the cover of Mystic's The Art of the Sea Calendar in 1993.   Three of his paintings were also used in Shipwrecks Around Boston by noted Cape Cod author, William P. Quinn. Rockport Publishers included his painting ‘Boston Harbor at Sunset’ in a book entitled, A Gallery of Marine Art.

He has also been included in the latest edition of E.H.H. Archibald's authoritative volume on Marine Art from the Flemish masters to the present. His work has been on the cover of American Artist magazine, and in an in-depth article in American Art Collector. And is also illustrated in many museum exhibition catalogs, books and magazines including Bound for Blue Water, considered the Definitive Guide of Contemporary Marine Art, by J. Russell Jinishian, Smithsonian, the Cape Museum of Fine Art, the Cahoon Museum, St. Botolph Club, Mystic Seaport Museum, the American Yacht Club, the Haggin Museum and more. He is a founding Member of the “New American Luminists,” and an Artist Member of The Boston Guild of Artists, Salmagundi Club, and a Living Master at ARC Art Renewal Center.