Fine Pacific Islands painting by listed American artist, Gladys Rockmore Davis, circa 1940s.

This painting is done with gouache on paper, mounted in it's original frame, and cloth matte. The work is signed on the front, lower right, with her initials "GRD-" (how she usually signed her work). There is a label on the back from the "BABCOCK GALLERIES" in New York City. Also on the label is the title, the artist's name, and the original price. The back of the painting has an inscription, "Binding the torsos - Saba". Saba is a village in Bali.

Size: Painting 9.75" x 13.75" (sight through matte) / Frame 20" x 24".

The painting is a depiction of an intimate and rarely witnessed scene from Bali. The painting shows an interior with 6 Balinese women, three adults and three children, in the process of helping the children get dressed in their traditional ceremonial dance clothing. Although the work has a stylized look, it is very realistic, full of life and movement, and expresses the elegance of the subjects and quiet importance of the moment. The painting is finely executed with detailed brushstrokes, and a wonderful sense of composition and depth.

Information about the artist:

Gladys Rockmore Davis (1901-1967)

Born Gladys Rockmore, in New York City, in 1901, she lived there until she was 9 years old when her family moved to Canada. They eventually settled in San Francisco where Gladys attended the Girls' High School and then, the California School of Fine Arts. At the age of 16 she entered the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied with John Norton and George Bellows. After graduation from the Art Institute in 1920, she began her career as a commercial artist working in the advertising and fashion fields. In 1925, she married Floyd MacMillan Davis, a well-known illustrator. They went to Europe in 1932 and while in France, Gladys Rockmore Davis visited Renoir's home and studio and studied his paintings. Returning to the United States in 1933, she studied at the Art Students League in NYC and with George Grosz for a year.

She exhibited her work and was awarded many prizes and honors. In 1939 she received honorable mention from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and third honorable mention from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York bought her "August Afternoon" in 1940. This was followed by a number of prizes in museums throughout the country, and in 1941 she gave her first one-man show at the Rehn Gallery in New York City, followed by two additional one-man shows at the Midtown Gallery in New York.

In 1951, Mrs. Davis won the Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She is a full Academician at the National Academy of Design and was a member of the Society of Illustrators. Her work was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC, the National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Society of Illustrators, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her paintings are in many important private collections and museums, including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the San Diego Museum of Art, Whitney Museum and the University of Arizona Museum of Art. Gladys Rockmore Davis passed away in 1967.

This painting is in excellent condition with no restoration, damages, or repairs. It is not faded and is not laid down, but is lightly taped to the back of the matte.

This painting is one of the finest paintings of Bali that I have ever seen, by an important, well-listed artist, and is certainly of museum quality.