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    • Nicholas Davis (American, b. 1937) Untitled (Street Sweeper in Harlem), 1971
      Dec. 14, 2022

      Nicholas Davis (American, b. 1937) Untitled (Street Sweeper in Harlem), 1971

      Est: $5,000 - $7,000

      Nicholas Davis (American, b. 1937) Untitled (Street Sweeper in Harlem), 1971 oil on canvas signed Davis and dated (lower left); signed (verso) 33 7/8 x 24 inches. Provenance: A. A. Goldfarb Lot Essay:Nicholas Davis: Monumentalizing Harlem Untitled (Street Sweeper in Harlem), 1971 shows a glimpse of the bright, pop-like world of Nicholas Davis (American, b. 1937). Though featuring a quotidian scene of a street sweeper in the left foreground, dragging his trash bin behind him as he walks past a group of rowhouses, Davis idealizes the composition through his bold use of geometry and color, designating the figure a hero.Inorganic shapes and heavy contours work to emphasize the sweeper through his placement in the foreground while geometric forms draw the viewer's eye to the figure's interactions with his environment: the rowhouses spanning the upper plane of the composition, the diagonal line of the street, and trash can with garbage bags at the right foreground corner are defined by various-sized rectangles and triangles. The wheels attached to the sweeper's bin are the only circles in the composition, drawing the viewer's eye repeatedly back to the lower center. The viewer is continually invited to engage with the triangular relationship around the wheels created between the sweeper, the rowhouses, and the bin. The vertical form of the sweeper is emphasized as he cuts through the horizontal planes between the verticals of the rowhouses and trashcans, and the geometric grid from the horizontal diagonals of the rowhouses and street. The more organic (but still boxy) forms of the sweeper's body emphasize his presence in the composition as well, allowing him to stand out in this rigidly defined space. Davis's use of color accentuates the sweeper as it guides the viewer through the composition. The colors idealize the ordered scene and elevate the sweeper as a monumental figure.Davis applied the colors in this painting as shallow blocks of pigment without use of shading. This lack of tonal variance within the blocks of color and unnatural shades-bright red and deep navy in the city street and a flare of yellows, blues, reds, and pinks in the rowhouses -- lend the impression of ordered but spectacular artificiality. The clashes of color, though different, are not discordant, creating a pleasing staccato as the viewer's eye scans the rowhouses across the composition. Though the colors are artificial (the blaze of pinks in the upper left, the red of the street stopping at the sweeper's feet, the yellows and oranges of the first few rowhouses at the upper left suggest a morning sunrise), they are contextualized in the composition by the sweeper's isolation in the space as he paces the street before the neighborhood's inhabitants are awake. Davis illustrates a Harlem where the streets are clean and the garbage is carefully collected and stored, with a telephone line at the upper left suggesting a neighborhood with amenities: a pop-colored world perfectly at peace in the early morning that monumentalizes the street sweeper who is doing his part in in maintaining this ordered space.Davis worked for much his career in Harlem and was in involved in a variety of black-centric art exhibitions, including Harlem Artists 69 at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Philadelphia Civic Center's Afro American Artists, 1800-1969. He was a member of the Long Island Black Artist Association, an organization founded in 1968 that works to find exhibition venues highlighting black artists, while also providing a center of artistic fellowship. In painting areas familiar to him in his bright way that utilizes a bold geometric plane, he was able to highlight the usually overlooked figures of his neighborhood, particularly clear here in this early morning scene.

      Hindman
    • NICHOLAS DAVIS AMERICAN B.1937
      Dec. 12, 2020

      NICHOLAS DAVIS AMERICAN B.1937

      Est: $2,500 - $3,500

      The Players, 1970, oil on canvas, 22 x 28 in (55.9 x 71.1 cm), signed lower left, artist card verso, PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Boston, MA,

      Trinity International Auctions & Appraisals, LLC
    • NICHOLAS DAVIS, Oil on Canvas, 1967
      Jul. 11, 2020

      NICHOLAS DAVIS, Oil on Canvas, 1967

      Est: $4,000 - $8,000

      Oil on canvas painting by Nicholas Davis (American, b. 1937). Faint signature shows "Davis" at lower left corner. Artist business card affixed verso dated 1967. Overall framed size 32" x 46". Excellent condition. A beautifully executed image of two men playing bongo drums, with each and the background being built up of geometric shapes. Nicholas Davis' work was exhibited in the 1969 Exhibition of 100 Afro-American Artists at the Philadelphia Civic Center Museum as well as at the Studio Museum of Harlem in its 1969 exhibition "Harlem Artists." He later had a one-man show at Gallery 62 in New York.

      Blackwell Auctions LLC
    • Modernist Painting, Horse Racing, Signed "Davis"
      Jan. 03, 2016

      Modernist Painting, Horse Racing, Signed "Davis"

      Est: $400 - $600

      Nicholas Davis (American (New York), b. 1937). "My Favorite Thing" - 1980, acrylic on canvas, signed lower right "davis". Modernist painting depicting five jockeyed horses engaged in a race, each horse with brown body and white strip to nose with their legs arranged in a full galloping position with jockeys riding upon each horse's back adorned in brightly colored patterned unforms and caps, a mountainous landscape along horizon line to background. Label to verso of stretcher from the artist's studio. Framed approximately 37.75" x 45.75", unframed approximately 36.25" x 44".

      Ahlers & Ogletree Inc.
    • Modernist Painting, Horse Racing, Signed "Davis"
      Aug. 08, 2015

      Modernist Painting, Horse Racing, Signed "Davis"

      Est: $500 - $700

      Nicholas Davis (American (New York), b. 1937). "My Favorite Thing" - 1980, acrylic on canvas, signed lower right "davis". Modernist painting depicting five jockeyed horses engaged in a race, each horse with brown body and white strip to nose with their legs arranged in a full galloping position with jockeys riding upon each horse's back adorned in brightly colored patterned unforms and caps, a mountainous landscape along horizon line to background. Label to verso of stretcher from the artist's studio. Framed approximately 37.75" x 45.75", unframed approximately 36.25" x 44".

      Ahlers & Ogletree Inc.
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