Providing a crucial record of the painter Noah Daviss extraordinary oeuvre, this monograph tells the story of a brilliant artist and cultural force through the eyes of his friends and collaborators.

Despite his exceedingly premature death at the age of 32, Daviss paintings have deeply influenced the rise of figurative and representational painting in the twenty-first century. Daviss emotionally charged work places him firmly in the canon of great American painting. Stirring, elusive, and attuned to the history of painting, his compositions infuse scenes from everyday life with a magical realist atmosphere and contain traces of his abiding interest in artists such as Marlene Dumas, Kerry James Marshall, Fairfield Porter, and Luc Tuymans.

This catalogue is born of the unique relationship between Davis and Helen Molesworth, whom Davis entrusted to be the curator of his work. It is published on the occasion of the 2020 exhibition at David Zwirner, New York, which travels to The Underground Museum in Los Angeles, a space that Davis founded with his wife, artist Karon Davis. In her introduction, catalogue essay, and interviews with important figures in Daviss life, Molesworth shows how the artists generosity and sense of responsibility galvanized a uniquely supportive artistic community, culture, and vision. Together with color illustrations and archival photographs, the book features heartfelt testimonials that unfold in the intimate yet expansive spirit of studio visits with people close to him.

Noah Daviss (19832015) body of work encompasses, on the one hand, his lush, sensual figurative paintings and, on the other, an ambitious institutional project called The Underground Museum, a black-owned-and-operated art space dedicated to the exhibition of museum-quality art in a culturally underserved African American and Latinx neighborhood in Los Angeles.

Helen Molesworthis a Los Angelesbased writer and curator. While chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles she forged a partnership with The Underground Museum and organized the exhibitionsKahlil Joseph: Double Consciousness(2015) andNoah Davis: Imitation of Wealth (2015).

• Hardcover:160 pages
• Publisher:David Zwirner Books (September 1, 2020)
• Language:English
• ISBN-10:1644230374
• ISBN-13:9781644230374
• Product Dimensions:10 x 0.9 x 12 inches
• Shipping Weight:3.5 pounds