Davies, Kristian

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Davies, Kristian

PERSONAL:

Education: Northwestern University, graduate; attended New York University and the Sorbonne.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—kristiandavies@hotmail.com.

CAREER:

Writer and art historian.

AWARDS, HONORS:

ForeWord Magazine Editor's Choice Award for Nonfiction, 2005, for The Orientalists.

WRITINGS:

Artists of Cape Ann: A 150 Year Tradition, Twin Lights Publishers (Rockport, MA), 2001.

The Orientalists: Western Artists in Arabia, the Sahara, Persia, and India, Laynfaroh (New Canaan, CT), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including American Art Review and Art & Antiques.

SIDELIGHTS:

Author and art historian Kristian Davies was educated at Northwestern University, New York University, and the Sorbonne III in Paris. A student of art from his youth on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, Davies has traveled and studied throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East, according to a biographer on the Resource Library Web site. Davies's first published book paid tribute to the Cape Ann artists he had studied and enjoyed as he developed his interest in art history. Artists of Cape Ann: A 150 Year Tradition contains a retrospective look at the work of more than sixty-five artists who have worked and painted in America's oldest art colony, from Winslow Homer to Mark Rothko.

The Orientalists: Western Artists in Arabia, the Sahara, Persia, and India chronicles the group of nineteenth-century Western artists who traveled through Arabia, India, Persia, Egypt, and other locations, becoming deeply attracted to the exotic nature of the architecture, environment, and landscapes that surrounded them. These artists became known as Orientalists, and their work was profoundly influenced by the bold and mysterious scenes that confronted them during their travels. Davies offers high-quality reproductions of more than 300 paintings, in addition to straightforward commentary and assessment of the works. ‘The images were compiled by the author for two reasons: to show the immense talent of the painters and the great beauty and wonder of the scenes they painted,’ observed Alex Moore in ForeWord Magazine. Davies ‘approaches the subject afresh with an aim to revisit, redefine, and renew interest in the forgotten masterpieces’ of the Orientalist painters, remarked a reviewer in Ancient Egypt Magazine. The book earned Davies a ForeWord Magazine Editor's Choice Award in 2005. ‘This book is a gem, a unique, indispensable reference work, for which the author and publisher deserve to be congratulated,’ commented the Ancient Egypt Magazine reviewer.