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Lot 109^*,AR

Alan Davie C.B.E., H.R.S.W., R.A.
(British, 1920-2014)
Birds Idol no.4 152.4 x 182.8 cm. (60 x 72 in.)

15 June 2016, 15:00 BST

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £15,000 inc. premium

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Alan Davie C.B.E., H.R.S.W., R.A. (British, 1920-2014)

Birds Idol no.4
signed, titled and dated twice 'Alan Davie/Feb 70/BIRDS IDOL/NO 4/FEB 70' (verso)
oil on canvas
152.4 x 182.8 cm. (60 x 72 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
With Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, May 1970, where acquired by
Robert Steinberg
His sale; Christie's, New York, 9 May 1984, lot 122, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.S.A.

Exhibited
London, Gimpel Fils, Alan Davie, 5-30 May 1970, cat.no.31

Literature
Douglas Hall and Michael Tucker, Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1992, p.180, cat.no.635, pl.76 (col.ill.)

With the turn of the decade, Davie embraced a bold new approach to his painting, signified by block colouring, definition by line and increased use of symbolist forms. The present work is one of the earliest examples of this new art. Identified in Douglas Hall and Michael Tucker's monograph as one of the 'more important oils by Alan Davie' and allowed a full page colour illustration, Birds Idol no.4 is indebted to Davie's increased interest in the dialogue between music and painting. Jazz had long influenced Davie's work but in the 1970s the conversation became symbiotic. He began to stage recitals and make recordings as 'The Alan Davie Music Workshop'. One recording of 1971 took the title Bird Through The Wall, a title also given to paintings of the same year. The paintings incorporate the club, checkers and target motifs seen in the Birds Idol works, underlining the significance of the present oil as key to the artist's development.

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