Alan Davie

Acquired directly from the Artist by the present owner

Alan Bowness, Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1967, cat. no.477.

The board is sound. There are Artist's pinholes and nails in several places along the edges and horizontally accross the work following the stretcher bar. There are some very minor abrasions with a few associated small flakes of loss most noticeable to the upper centre of the upper vertical edge. The are a few minor nicks to the edges and some rounding to the corners of the board, with a small scratch to the board at the extreme right corner. There is a small flake of loss in the extreme upper right corner. There is a very small scratch close to the green pigment at centre of the left horizontal edge, only visible upon close inspection. There are one or two very light scuffs to the white pigment in the lower left quadrant close to the horizontal edge. There is some studio detritus and light surface dirt in places. Subject to the above the work is in excellent overall condition. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a few small areas of sensitive and light retouching around the edges of the work, possibly replacing previous frame abrasions, notably at the upper left corner and to the aforementioned flake of loss in the upper right corner. The work is float mounted within a simple white painted wood frame. Please telephone the department on +44 207 293 6424 if you have any questions.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

‘There can never be a complete or perfect work of art, for perfection is death. Perfection is infinite, imperfection is infinite. One can only complete something according to a preconception based on knowledge, which is so much dead past. Self-expression is the antithesis of art. Expressionist painting or action painting can only be good if it achieves transcendence of the very expression. The act of gesture, coming out of rage, fear, joy, hatred, tenderness, love, frustration, etc. (all superficial, transient emotions) if it is to be a lever, an opener-up, a tool, must be only a means used as a force to help liberate the underlying (or overlying) human psyche which alone is real and enduring’ (Alan Davie, quoted in Alan Bowness (ed.), Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1967, p.15).

As Davie matured as an artist throughout the 1960s his compositions became more clearly defined as he realised the tropes and motifs which had the greatest effect in his art. In his early work Davie had accessed a higher level of consciousness through spontaneous or automatic painting, but by the 1960s, he referred to this higher state by including emblems and signs associated with Zen Buddhism and magic.

In this work, Davie has contrasted the painted shapes against the bare ground, allowing the viewer to focus on the detail of each individual element. While the viewer is drawn across the work by the thrusting black and white shapes, they are drawn back to the two diamonds in the centre of the composition which appear symbolic in their placement. The piece then explodes with colour, which was central to Davie’s life and work, as he commented: ‘Perhaps colour is impossible to talk about. Colour is like scent – indescribable; or like a chord struck on a harp in the darkness. The mysterious element of colour, perhaps the most important element in my painting (and indeed my life), is something utterly magical to me, filling my life and surrounding me with wonder’ (Alan Davie, quoted in Alan Bowness, Alan Davie, Lund Humphries, London, 1992, p.66). The title of this work, Improvisations for a Gay Ghost No.1, hints at a similar musical connection and suggests that Davie was inspired by colour in the same way as the great early pioneer of highly coloured soft-edged abstraction, Wassily Kandinsky.