Warren B. Davis

Davis came of age during the 1880s when new mass market periodicals grew up among the newspaper printing trades located in Lower Manhattan: The Century (1881), The Ladies World (1886), Collier's (1888), Life, (1897), The Saturday Evening Post(1897),Vogue (1909), and Vanity Fair (1913).

Davis’ Vanity Fair covers depicted sylph-like figures, imaginatively styled as 'woodland nymphs', dancing, jumping, or flying in outdoor settings.

Today, Davis is best known for his limited edition figure studies of idealized young women commissioned and published by Francis H. Robertson, a New York art dealer.

His treatment of his subjects considers how the human body composes itself while standing, sitting, kneeling, crouching, or lying down, unmediated by any historic, mythic, or philosophical associations based on classical references or culture.

For our part, it seems a bright sign in the heavens, for it argues, we believe, that we, as a nation, have come to realize the need for more cheerfulness, for hiding a solemn face, for a fair measure of pluck, and for great good humor.