signed lower left: BD
Copyright courtesy of the Estate of the Artist
Bessie Davidson is known for her paintings of still life, interiors, portraits and landscapes imbued with a beautiful use of light, tone and colour, becoming quite vigorous in her use of both colour and texture from the 1920s onwards. Her recognition as an artist is perhaps greater in her adopted city of Paris where she lived from 1910, regularly exhibiting and gaining critical attention. Her work was included in the exhibition Australian Impressionists in France, National Gallery of Victoria, 2013 and she was the subject of a book, A Studio in Montparnasse: Bessie Davidson: An Australian Artist in Paris (Penelope Little, 2003).
The artist
By descent to the artist's great grand nephew
Australian & International Paintings, Elder Fine Art, Adelaide, 26 October 2014, lot 9
Bessie Davidson & Sally Smart - Two artists and the Parisian avant-garde, Bendigo Art Gallery, 20 March - 26 July 2020
Innovative Australian Women, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 25 March - 31 July 2020
Lauraine Diggins Fine Art Collectors' Exhibition 2017, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 3 June - 29 July 2017
Australian Women Artists: Between the Wars, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 3 March - 25 April 2015