Frederick W. Davis
Encyclopedia
Frederick W. Davis operated an antiquities
and folk art
shop in Mexico City
. Davis was an early collector and dealer in pre-Columbian and Mexican folk art and his shop was a place where Mexican Modern artists who were interested in pre-Columbian and folk art, often met.
Davis was born and raised in Illinois. He came to Mexico about 1910 and worked for the Sonora News Company selling newspapers, guidebooks, and souvenirs on the Southern Pacific Railway line south from Nogales, Arizona. Davis, who was interested in folk art and pre-Columbian art became the manager of the Sonora Company's arts and crafts showroom in Mexico City. During the Mexican Revolution
(1910-1920), many Mexican antiques came on the market. After 1920, as stability returned and Americans became interested in Mexico, Davis’s shop attracted collectors and other visitors. Artists of the emerging “Mexican school” were interested in both historical and contemporary folk art, so they also gravitated to Davis’s shop. Davis was among the first to collect, display and sell their work. He exhibited work by Diego Rivera
, José Clemente Orozco
, and Rufino Tamayo
; others who came to the shop included Miguel Covarrubias
and Jean Charlot
. Davis also displayed work by Americans including George Biddle
, Caroline Durieux
, and William Spratling
.
In 1927, Davis hired Rene d'Harnoncourt
as his assistant. D’Harnoncourt worked with Davis until 1933, helping in the purchase and sale of art objects and organizing displays and exhibits in the showroom.
Davis was also a noted silversmith
and produced numerous pieces of Mexican jewelry.
Davis was gay
, but few accounts of his life mention this fact.
In 1933, Davis left the Sonora News Company and became head of the department of antiques and fine crafts in Frank Sanborn's Mexico City store. He continued supporting Mexican artists and craftsmen by displaying and selling their work.
Antiquities
Antiquities, nearly always used in the plural in this sense, is a term for objects from Antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures...
and folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
shop in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. Davis was an early collector and dealer in pre-Columbian and Mexican folk art and his shop was a place where Mexican Modern artists who were interested in pre-Columbian and folk art, often met.
Davis was born and raised in Illinois. He came to Mexico about 1910 and worked for the Sonora News Company selling newspapers, guidebooks, and souvenirs on the Southern Pacific Railway line south from Nogales, Arizona. Davis, who was interested in folk art and pre-Columbian art became the manager of the Sonora Company's arts and crafts showroom in Mexico City. During the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
(1910-1920), many Mexican antiques came on the market. After 1920, as stability returned and Americans became interested in Mexico, Davis’s shop attracted collectors and other visitors. Artists of the emerging “Mexican school” were interested in both historical and contemporary folk art, so they also gravitated to Davis’s shop. Davis was among the first to collect, display and sell their work. He exhibited work by Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
, José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...
, and Rufino Tamayo
Rufino Tamayo
Rufino Tamayo was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, painting figurative abstraction with surrealist influences....
; others who came to the shop included Miguel Covarrubias
Miguel Covarrubias
José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was a Mexican painter and caricaturist, ethnologist and art historian among other interests. In 1924 at the age of 19 he moved to New York City armed with a grant from the Mexican government, tremendous talent, but very little English speaking skill. Luckily,...
and Jean Charlot
Jean Charlot
Louis Henri Jean Charlot was a French painter and illustrator, active in Mexico and the United States. Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business and was a Russian-born émigré, albeit one who supported the Bolshevik cause. His mother Anna was herself an artist...
. Davis also displayed work by Americans including George Biddle
George Biddle
George Biddle was an American artist best known for his social realism, combat art, and his strong advocacy of government-sponsored art projects...
, Caroline Durieux
Caroline Durieux
Caroline Wogan Durieux was an American lithographer, and Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University.-Life:...
, and William Spratling
William Spratling
William Spratling was an American-born silversmith and artist, best known for his influence on 20th century Mexican silver design....
.
In 1927, Davis hired Rene d'Harnoncourt
Rene d'Harnoncourt
Rene d'Harnoncourt was an art curator, and a Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 1949 to 1967....
as his assistant. D’Harnoncourt worked with Davis until 1933, helping in the purchase and sale of art objects and organizing displays and exhibits in the showroom.
Davis was also a noted silversmith
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...
and produced numerous pieces of Mexican jewelry.
Davis was gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, but few accounts of his life mention this fact.
In 1933, Davis left the Sonora News Company and became head of the department of antiques and fine crafts in Frank Sanborn's Mexico City store. He continued supporting Mexican artists and craftsmen by displaying and selling their work.
Sources/Further Reading
- Morrill, Penny C., and Berk, Mexican Silver: 20th Century Handwrought Jewelry & Metalwork, Schiffer, Atglen PA 1994, pages 22–29. This essay is the best summary of Davis's career. ISBN 887406106
- Oles, James, editor, South of the Border: Mexico in the American Imagination, 1914-1947, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DE 1993, pages 123-127; ISBN 1560982942
- Delpar, Helen, The Enormous Vogue of Things Mexican: Cultural Relations between the United States and Mexico, 1920-1935, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa 1992, pages 5–6, 65-66; ISBN 0817305823
- Davis, Mary L., and Pack, Greta, Mexican Jewelry, University of Texas Press, Austin 1963, pages 150-167.
- Fergusson, Erna Mexico Revisited, Alfred A Knopf, New York 1955, pages 305-313.