Paul Brooks Davis

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Paul Brooks Davis (a.k.a. Paul Davis, born 1938) is an American graphic artist.

Paul Brooks Davis, better known as Paul Davis, was born in 1938 in Centrahoma, Oklahoma. The middle of three children born to Howard Davis, a Methodist minister, and Susan Brookhart Davis, he spent his childhood in small towns: Caddo, Jenks, Hartshorne and Antlers, in Oklahoma, as well as Sulphur Springs, Arkansas; Ellis, Kansas; and, briefly, Great Falls, Montana. He attended Woodrow Wilson Junior High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma), and later, Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, where his talent was nurtured by his art teachers–Mr. Higgins in 8th grade, Ms. Ownby in 9th, and Hortense Bateholts at Will Rogers. While in high school, Davis, with friends Russell Myers and Archie Goodwin formed a cartoonist's club that met daily at the Owl Drugstore at 11th Street and Pittsburg in Tulsa. Davis won a scholarship at the age of 17 to the School of Visual Arts, still called the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, on a scholarship from Scholastic Arts Magazine and moved to New York. "It wasn’t very well known, but I had read about it in a comic book," Davis said.^[1] There, he studied with outstanding illustrators Philip Hays and Robert Weaver, and graphic designer and artist George Tscherny.

While in New York he had his first marriage in 1959 to aspiring actress-singer Elise Hepburn, which produced his son John. The divorced in 1964. He also married former Push Pin colleague Myrna Mushkin in 1965, and their son Matthew was born in 1967.

While still a student, Davis produced his first commissioned illustration, a pencil drawing that appeared in the October 1959 issue of Playboy magazine. After finishing his courses at School of Visual Arts, he was hired by Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast, partners in the groundbreaking Push Pin Studios. A series of his target paintings was the subject of issue 32 (1961) of the studio's publication, The Push Pin Graphic.^[2] He then illustrated "A Bestiary" of famous people, conceived and written by artist Edward Sorel, which appeared in the July 1962 issue of Horizon magazine.

Davis's work quickly caught the imagination of art directors in the U.S. and abroad, and he was soon in demand as an illustrator for magazines, record album covers, book jackets, and advertising. He formed the Paul Davis Studio in 1963, working first in New York and later in

He was

In 1968, Davis was invited by Galerie Delpire in

• 1988 Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators
• Silver and Gold medal from the Art Directors Club of New York
• Silver Medal from Primera Bienal de Artes Graficas in Columbia
• Bronze medal from the VIII Poster Biennale in Warsaw
• Special Drama Desk Award for his outstanding theater posters
• Honorary doctorates from School of Visual Arts and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
• Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.
• 2009 Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame[4]
• 2012 Will Rogers High School Hall of Fame^[5]

Davis's artwork has appeared in many movies and TV shows. When

In a classroom scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Davis' poster for The Cherry Orchard hangs on the wall. Davis created album artwork for two Chiaroscuro Records releases: Gene Krupa's Jazz at the New School and Summit Reunion's Yellow Dog Blues.

• http://www.pauldavisstudio.com
• Paul Davis Turns Poster Painting into a High and Popular Art
• http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1995/?id=328
• http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-pauldavis
• "Exhibition Overview | Masters Series: Paul Davis", Guest Artist Exhibitions, School of Visual Arts, October 5–30, 1998.
• Push Pin Graphic
• http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3065/is_2_33/ai_112683535/