Gladys Rockmore Davis
| Gladys Rockmore Davis | |
|---|---|
1942 Self Portrait Oil
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| Born |
Gladys Davis May 11, 1901 New York City, NY, U.S. |
| Died | February 16, 1967 (aged 65) New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | California School of Fine Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Art Students League |
| Known for | Painter |
| Movement | Impressionism |
| Awards | William R. French Gold Medal Beck Gold Medal (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) Isador Gold Medal (National Academy of Design) |
| Patron(s) | Upjohn, Munsingwear, Elgin Watches, Johnson & Johnson |
Gladys Rockmore Davis (May 11, 1901- February 16, 1967) was an American artist who worked in both commercial and fine arts, and gave up a career in advertising art to work in creative painting. Her work in pastels ranks with her oils, and her chief subjects are children, nudes and still lifes. She also painted ballet dancers, vignettes of liberated Paris, and scenes of Spain. An art critic once called Gladys Rockmore Davis "the ten-year wonder of United States art". Her husband Floyd Davis and her son Noel Rockmore were well-known artists as well.
Born in New York City, on May 11, 1901, the daughter of 'David William Rockmore' and Jeanette (Richman) Rockmore, Gladys Davis lived in New York until she was nine years old. Her father, a lawyer and metallurgist, moved the family to Canada shortly after he was suspended from his New York legal practice for 6 months for “inappropriately reflecting on the character of a New York Municipal Court Justice”. Gladys and her brother, Julian Rockmore, spent the next five years getting used to new schools as the family moved from place to place in Canada.
”I spent the following five years getting used to one school, only to find myself moved on to another. This successive uprooting did not stop me from giving every moment of my spare time to drawing and painting. We finally returned to the United States and landed in San Francisco.” Although neither of her parents had any artistic inclinations, they encouraged her and sent her to Saturday classes at the California School of Fine Arts.
“Of this period, I have fascinating memories of the caverns below the school which were the ruins of the original building destroyed in the great earthquake. It was in San Francisco that I first studied from life, and won my first prize. After two years, the family moved again and we finally settled in Chicago. It was there that I got my real start in the world of art.”
At the age of sixteen, she entered the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied with John Norton and George Bellows. She spoke affectionately of Norton who "taught me to look, to see, really to use my eyes. He showed me the vast difference between the actual distortion of reality and the 'pretty' distortion of the average point of view." She praised the Art Institute of Chicago, not only for its teaching, but also for having a museum where the students could compare their work with the works of masters. "Great paintings put us in our places," she said. “As I look back, I realize that a truly remarkable spirit existed in the school at that time. That’s what happens when there are both good teachers and eager students.”
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