Gene Davis, Untitled, 1966

Acrylic on canvas

Gene Davis (1920-1985) is one of Washington's most well known artists. The multi-colored vertical stripe paintings that he began making in 1958, were considered some of the best American paintings of the 1960's. Davis was included in the 1964 New York exhibition, Post Painterly Abstraction, curated by Clement Greenberg. He was also grouped in the locally defined Washington Color School, along with other Watkins Collection artists Tom Downing, Kenneth Noland, and Paul Reed. Davis had no formal art training, but in his early years worked closely with his friend and mentor Jacob Kainen. Prior to his career as an artist, Davis worked as a journalist, and held a position as a member of the White House Press Corps.

 

Ben L. Summerford, Costa Brava, 1967

Oil on canvas

Ben L. Summerford was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1924. He was chair of the Art Department at American from 1957-1986. He was a founder of Jefferson Place Gallery and the Franz Bader Gallery in DC. Jefferson Place Gallery was started by several artists from AU as a venue to show contemporay painting and sculpture that few commercial galleries would show. Summerford had a twenty-year retrospective at the Phillips Collection in 1982.

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