On the Loire

Arthur B. Davies's "On the Loire" (1924) is a watercolor and gouache with touches of graphite and charcoal on tan wove paper prepared with a gray wash. This work dates from the later part of Davies's career, after the Armory Show had transformed the American art world and Davies himself had traveled extensively in Europe. The Loire Valley, with its chateaux and gentle river landscape, was a favored subject for artists, and Davies's treatment captures its characteristic atmosphere. The prepared gray wash ground provides a unified tonal base upon which the watercolor and gouache are applied. The gouache (opaque watercolor) allows for highlights and opaque passages that stand out against the transparent washes. The touches of graphite and charcoal add linear definition to the forms. Davies's technique in this work is more restrained than in his earlier dreamlike visions, reflecting perhaps the influence of the classical landscape tradition he encountered in Europe. The composition is balanced and harmonious, the colors muted and refined.

Davies's later landscapes demonstrate his continuing development as an artist, showing how his symbolist sensibility adapted to the direct observation of specific European landscapes.

This watercolor of the Loire captures Davies in a more naturalistic mood, the prepared ground and combination of media allowing for a subtle evocation of the French river landscape's gentle beauty.