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Ethel Rosetta Davis
Southern Modernist Abstract Musical Oil Painting by Ethel Davis, Alabama 1940

About the Item

Ethel Rosetta Davis was born in Hardin County, Tennessee in 1897. She studied art in Birmingham, Alabama. Davis married and located to Tuscumbia and Sheffield, just outside Muscle Shoals. Davis died in 1968, four years before her vision of a local art museum was realized with the opening of the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in 1972. To pay tribute to her, the Museum held an exhibition of her modernist works in 2019. This jazz-inspired work is oil on board and measures 16” x 23”. A stylized bass dominates the center of the composition and it is juxtaposed against a diagonal keyboard. Further abstracted elements complete the composition. Davis used bold colors and simple shapes to produce this work. She liberally applied the paint. The reverse side has an inscription to her son John William Davis. Perhaps he was a musician. The painting likely dates to the late 1930’s or 1940’s and is signed lower right. The painting is housed in a heavy, wide wood frame of the period. Its style has ribbed detail that recalls some of the elements of Whistler frames of the past. The frame retains its original finish and is good condition with a few areas of wear, here and there. Overall framed dimensions are 26” x 33”. There is a plexiglass piece on the reverse side that holds the board in place to the frame, allowing the board’s back inscription to be visible.
  • Creator:
    Ethel Rosetta Davis (1896 - 1968, American)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 23 in (58.42 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
  • Medium:
    Oil
  • Movement & Style:
    Abstract Geometric
  • Period:
    1940-1949
  • Condition:
    The painting is in good condition, with minor expected wear to the wood frame.
  • Gallery Location:
    Baltimore, MD
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2396213857302
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