Gene Davis
American, 1920 - 1985
Person TypeArtist
BiographyGene Davis worked as a sportswriter and White House correspondent before beginning an art career in his late twenties. Largely self-taught, he also worked closely with artist, curator, and friend Jacob Kainen. Davis experimented with improvisation and spontaneity in his art and became well-known for his later stripe paintings and as a leader of the Washington Color School. In addition to color, Davis emphasized rhythm, interval, and irregularity in his stripe paintings. He also produced modular compositions, collages, silhouette self-portraits, and abstract compositions in neon. He created micropaintings, some of which are only a quarter of an inch square, as well as large outdoor street paintings. Davis was born and lived nearly his entire life in Washington, DC.
