Inducted in 2012
Centrahoma, Caddo, Antlers, Harthorne, Jenks. Paul Davis lived in numerous Oklahoma towns before arriving at Woodrow Wilson Junior High and Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, where his art teachers–Mr. Higgins in 8th grade, Ms. Ownby in 9th, and Hortense Bateholts at Will Rogers–encouraged his talent. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York on scholarship, and worked at the famed Push Pin Studios before embarking on a long and successful free-lance career. His distinctive style led to commissions for magazines, books and posters, most notably for Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival, and his paintings have been the subject of solo exhibitions in galleries and museums in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Davis also created posters for Tulsa Mayfest 2002 and for Will Rogers High School 75th Anniversary. Honors include Halls of Fame of the Art Directors Club and the Society of Illustrators, and doctorates from SVA and the Maryland Institute College of Art. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. In 1988 Governor Frank Keating declared the opening date of his exhibition at the Philbrook Museum “Paul Davis Day.”
