Self portrait of Herndon Davis,
ca. 1934
Herndon Davis Exhibit through December
31, 2006
"You're going
to get fired, you know that. Why don't you give them something
to remember you by. Paint a picture on the floor."
And so, when the bar closed,
Davis got himself a fifth of rum, a bottle of Coke, a brick
and some painting material.
He used the brick to sandpaper
the floor, drank the rum and Coke, and then - by a dim light
- painted the face of his lovely wife.
He was born Oct. 27, 1901,
in Wynnewood, Okla. And spent most of his boyhood in Fort
Smith, Ark. He worked as a shoeshine boy in Kansas City,
MO, and saved enough money for his first art lesson. He
spent several years as a young artist in Greenwich Village,
where he met Nita.
He was working on plans for
a mural in the Smithsonian Institution's new archaeology
building when he was stricken."
Denver Post Nov. 8, 1962
