Quietly Dreaming of Spring
Scottish-born artist Alan Davie was one of a number of British artists whose work during the 1950s bore strong influences from the work of American Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock (1912-1956). Their free, gestural use of paint and fondness for bright, vivid colours had a profound effect on Davie's own paintings, as is evident in Quietly Dreaming of Spring. Indeed, over the years Davie's work has fallen under a number of influences, including his interests in oriental mysticism, gliding, swimming and Indian mythology. Having also spent a period working as a professional jazz musician after the Second World War, Davie's style of work throughout his career has always been closely compared to jazz music, especially that which is improvised. Davie viewed art as a way of gaining spiritual enlightenment. His brightly-coloured and richly patterned paintings are alive with symbols and signs, evoking primitive magic, religion and eroticism.
