Francis Davison

We are pleased to be able to present the work of the important pioneer of abstraction Francis Davison's work for sale.​

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Francis Davison (1919–1984) was a British visual artist and whose later work is characterised by the use of collage: coloured printed paper layered and mounted.

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As a friend of Patrick Heron he moved to St Ives in 1946 but following his marriage to fellow artist Margaret Mellis in 1948, sought solitude in East Anglia and remained in relative obscurity until finding recognition in the late 1970s and early 1980s culminating in a solo exhibition in 1983 at the  Hayward Gallery. Just one year later Davison died.

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Interest in Davison's work and recognition of his contribution to abstraction in Britain has grown rapidly in recent years. Art critic Julian Spalding stated that "Francis Davison is, in my estimation to date, the pre-eminent British abstract artist of the second half of the 20th century."

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