American painter Arthur Bowen Davies (1862-1928) introduced a contemporary quality in a basically romantic style and was a pioneer in bringing American art into the mainstream of progressive Western painting.

Arthur B. Davies was born in Utica, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 1862. He was sketching and painting scenes of the Mohawk Valley before he was 16, when his family moved to Chicago. He studied at the Art Institute there, worked for the board of trade, and went on an engineering expedition to Mexico. In 1887 he went to New York City and studied at the Art Students League, where Robert Henri and George Luks became his friends. Davies's earliest professional work (1888-1891) was magazine illustration. He married in 1890 and moved to a farm near Congers, N.Y.; soon afterward he competed unsuccessfully for the mural decorations of the Appellate Court in New York City. In 1894 the New York art dealer William...