The lives, loves, and art of Arthur B. Davies /

Painter Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928) emerges as an odious and, probably, deeply disturbed man in the detailed account of his life by researcher and writer Perlman (Robert Henri: His Life and Art). Davies (like Henri) exhibited with the group of painters known as The Eight, and as president of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, he introduced European modern art to the American public by organizing the 1913 Armory Show. But Davies built his career by gaining the affection of women whom he neglected badly once they bore his children. Only Lizzie Bliss and the other wealthy patrons he charmed escaped the neglect suffered by his wife and mistress, with whom he lived a secret double life, after they bore his children. Perlman's cautious, at times plodding style works in a biography that meticulously piles up the facts about Davies's scandalous behavior: he took his mistress to Europe in order to avoid the census takers; the house he volunteered as collateral for the Armory Show belonged to the hardworking wife he had virtually abandoned years before. He found the refuge he sought‘a place where he had neither financial nor emotional responsibilities‘in art. Differing sharply from the cityscapes painted by such colleagues as John Sloan, his pastoral idylls have classicizing qualities that pay a very weak homage to Puvis de Chavannes. Everywhere else, it seems, Davies was his own man. But, as this fascinating biography attests, his freedoms cost others dearly. 101 illustrations (16 in color) not seen by PW. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved