Dale Brockman Davis

Dale Brockman Davis (born 1945) is a Los Angeles-based African-American artist, gallerist and educator best known for his assemblage sculpture and ceramic work that addresses themes of African American history and music, especially jazz. Along with his brother, artist Alonzo Davis, he co-founded Brockman Gallery in Leimert Park. Through the gallery and his broader community work, Davis became an important promoter of African-American artists in Los Angeles.

Dale Brockman Davis
BornNovember 11, 1945
Tuskegee, Alabama
NationalityAmerican
EducationBFA at the University of Southern California
Known forSculpture, Gallerist, Educator
MovementAfrican American history and music
AwardsLeimert Park Art Festival, First Place in Sculpture
Patron(s)studied with F. Carlton Ball

Biography

Davis was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on November 11, 1945. He moved to Los Angeles in 1956.[1] He studied at Los Angeles City College before earning his B.F.A. at the University of Southern California. There he studied with noted ceramist F. Carlton Ball.[2] He would eventually move beyond vessels and other traditional ceramic forms, instead focusing on sculpture. He was inspired by assemblage art scene that emerged in Los Angeles's African-American community following the Watts Rebellion of 1965.

He did graduate work towards his M.F.A. at the University of California, Los Angeles but stopped the program after encountering resistance towards his assemblage style.[3]

Davis also worked as an art teacher and chairman of the art department at Dorsey High School.[4]

Dale and Alonzo Davis ran Brockman Gallery from 1967 to 1989. They were inspired to found the gallery after a consciousness-raising road trip across the United States and Canada in 1966. They named the gallery after their grandmother, Della Brockman.[5] They showcased the work of African-American artists from Los Angeles and elsewhere, provided them with a rare opportunity to exhibit and sell their work in Los Angeles's segregated art scene. Included among their list of local artists were: Charles Wilbert White, Betye Saar, John Outterbridge, Noah Purifoy, Tim Washington, Doyle Lane, and Marion Epting.

By the early 1970s, the brothers had transformed the gallery into a broader community art space and hosted a festival in Leimert Park.[6]

In 2019, Davis donated the Brockman Gallery Archive to the Los Angeles Public Library.[7]

Awards
  • Leimert Park Art Festival, First Place in Sculpture

Galleries

Gallery shows include:[8]

  • Gallery Negra
  • Bob Jefferson Gallery, Oakland
  • Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles
  • Brockman Gallery, Los Angeles

Group exhibitions

He has appeared in many exhibitions, including:

  • California Black Craftsmen, Mills College Art Gallery, 1970
  • Eleven from California, Studio Museum in Harem, 1972
  • Los Angeles 1972: A Panorama of Black Artists, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1972
  • Collage and Assemblage, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, 1975
  • Black Art: The LA Connection, Los Angeles Convention Center, 1982
  • Artists Teachers, Museum of African American Art, Santa Monica, 1983
  • Watts: Art and Social Change in Los Angeles, Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, 2003
  • L.A. Object and David Hammons Body Prints, Tilton Gallery, 2006
  • Distinctly Los Angeles: An African American Perspective, M. Hanks Gallery, Santa Monica, 2009
  • Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980, Hammer Museum, 2011[9]
  • Places of Validation, California African American Museum, 2011
  • Diverted Destruction 6, California African American Museum and Loft at Liz's, 2013
  • New Digs/Old Finds: Dale Davis, Assemblage Sculptures (solo exhibition), Loft2, San Pedro, 2019

Notes
  1. Von Blum, Paul (September 2014). "An Iconic Artistic Life: Dale Davis and His Work". The Journal of Pan African Studies. 7 (3): 231–244.
  2. "Black Artists of Los Angeles". Studio Potter. 9 (2): 16–25. June 1981.
  3. "Black Artists of Los Angeles". Studio Potter. 9 (2): 25. June 1981.
  4. Montgomery, Evangeline J. (1970). California Black Craftsmen. Oakland: Mills College Art Gallery.
  5. Dale Davis (2011). "Brockman Gallery". In Tilton, Connie Rogers; Charlwood, Lindsay (eds.). L.A. Object & David Hammonds Body Prints. New York: Tilton Gallery. pp. 76–85. ISBN 978-1-4276-1374-5.
  6. Widener, Daniel (2010). Black Arts West: Culture and Struggle in Postwar Los Angeles. Durham: Duke University Press. pp. 158–159. ISBN 978-0822346791.
  7. "Library to make Brockman Gallery Archive available to the public". Park Labrea News/ Beverly Press. 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  8. Cederholm, Theresa Dickason (1973). Afro-American Artists: A Bio-bibliographical Directory. Boston: Trustees of the Boston Public Library. p. 70.
  9. Jones, Kellie (2011). Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles 1960-1980. Los Angeles: Hammer Museum, University of California. ISBN 978-3791351360.
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