Floyd MacMillan Davis
| Floyd MacMillan Davis | |
|---|---|
Floyd Davis – 1946 Lord Calvert Ad
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| Born |
Floyd MacMillan Davis April 8, 1896 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | October 25, 1966 (aged 70) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | No Formal Training |
| Known for | Painter Illustrator |
| Patron(s) | Life Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Woman's Home Companion, American Magazine, Texaco, Johnnie Walker, Eveready, Desoto, Real Silk, Nabisco, Grape Nuts, Caterpillar Inc., & Hiram Walker |
Floyd MacMillan Davis was an American painter and illustrator known for his work in advertising and illustration; Walter and Roger Reed described him as "someone who could capture the rich, beautiful people of the 1920s: dashing, mustachioed men; the cool, svelte women. But Davis was just as capable at capturing just-plain-folk, and with a cartoonist's sensibilities and a fresh humor, he expanded into story art and ad work that called characters of every persuasion.
By the early 1940s, he was recognized as the top man in both fields. In 1943, Life Magazine called him the "#1 Illustrator in America".
Floyd MacMillan Davis was born on April 8, 1896 and grew up in Chicago. His ancestors were Scottish and Welsh. Floyd never had the benefit of art school instruction because he was forced by circumstance to quit high school at the end of his first year, after which, he got a job in a lithograph house in Chicago. For $3.00 a week he made tusche and did every kind of manual work entrusted to an apprentice. He was brought into contact with art and was given some opportunity to develop his own drawing skill. His first real art job was with Meyer Both & Co., the well-known Chicago Art Service.
His art career, interrupted by two and a half years of service in the U.S. Navy during World War I, was resumed when he returned to Chicago and joined the Grauman Brothers' organization as an advertising artist. An early exponent of the drybrush technique, he had broken away before 1920 from the usual pen-and-ink drawings. His illustrations appeared in many magazines, including Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post and Redbook.
Davis' early career was almost derailed by love. He returned from World War I duty to work at Grauman Brothers, Chicago. When a woman artist was hired, Davis was so distracted, that the woman had to be let go. The woman was Gladys Rockmore, and she and Davis were married in 1925.
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