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Alan Davie

(1920-2014), Painter, poet, jazz musician, silversmith and jeweller

Sitter in 5 portraits
Alan Davie trained as a painter at Edinburgh College of Art. He explored a diverse range of activities, however, before returning to painting: from 1949 to 1953 he earned his living by making jewellery and in 1947 he worked as a jazz musician, an activity he continued in later life. He wrote poetry during the early 1940s. From 1953 to 1956 Davie taught in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. In 1971 he made his first visit to the island of St Lucia, where he began to spend half of each year and which brought Caribbean influences and imagery to bear on his work.

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Alan Davie, by Ida Kar - NPG x134683

Alan Davie

by Ida Kar
2 1/4 inch square film negative, 1959
NPG x134683

Alan Davie, by George Newson - NPG x35736

Alan Davie

by George Newson
bromide print, 16 June 1989
NPG x35736

Alan Davie, by Norman McBeath - NPG x128271

Alan Davie

by Norman McBeath
bromide fibre print, 2005
NPG x128271

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