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A Painter from Port Jefferson: Works by William Moore Davis

 

A Painter from Port Jefferson: Works by William Moore Davis opened on September 14, 2002, in the Member' s Gallery of Art Museum at The Long Island Museum. Davis (1829-1920) was a close friend of renowned, local artist William Sidney Mount and was greatly influenced by his work. (left: William Moore Davis, The Victor, 1877, oil on canvas, Museum purchase, 1969.)

Complementing The Riches of Sight: William Sidney Mount and His World -- the museum's newest Mount exhibit, A Painter from Port Jefferson: Works by William Moore Davis presents over 28 of Davis' oil and watercolor paintings. The exhibit includes such works as "Setauket Cider Mill," "A Cheerful Outlook," and "On Their Way to the Dance."

Contrary to the popular Impressionistic style of his contemporaries, Davis painted realistic, detailed scenes -- mostly of Long Island and its surrounding water. The self-taught artist had a love for the sea and worked as a cabin boy and ship builder before committing himself entirely to painting.

Davis's work was honored with several showings at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan, The Brooklyn Art Association, and private galleries throughout New York City. A Painter from Port Jefferson will remain on view through March 23, 2003.

 

Following is wall text from the exhibition:

 

A Painter from Port Jefferson: Works by William Moore Davis (1829 - 1920)
 
As a complement to The Riches of Sight, The Long Island Museum is pleased to present this exhibition of works by Port Jefferson painter William Moore Davis, who knew William Sidney Mount and was influenced by his work. A self-taught artist, Davis was born in Setauket and attended school for a time in New York City. Always enamored of the sea, he signed on as a cabin boy on a Long Island Sound sloop at the age of 15 and later began an apprenticeship with a boat builder. But art attracted him even more, and in the 1850s Davis abandoned the maritime trade and began painting in earnest. He often included marine subjects in his paintings.
 
Glimpses of Davis's life can be gleaned from the diaries of William Sidney Mount. From the 1830s on, Mount was a towering presence on his native Long Island and lived for a period in Davis's hometown of Port Jefferson. Mount knew the Davis family and, on occasion, offered Davis advice and encouraged his work. The two artists respected each other greatly and their warm friendship lasted until Mount's death in 1868.
William M. Davis's long career was highlighted by several showings at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan, the Brooklyn Art Association, and private galleries in New York City. But his presence on the cosmopolitan scene was brief, for as new painting styles, such as Impressionism, began to prevail in the art world he retreated to quiet Port Jefferson. There he continued to paint in the familiar style of Mount and his contemporaries and sold painting supplies until his death in 1920.
 

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