Richard Davis (1904-1964) was born in New York, NY, educated at the Horace Mann School and Cornell University (1925).  He studied sculpture in Paris (1928-1930) at L’Academie de la Grande Chaumiere under Emile-Antoine Bourdelle.  He returned to New York and established a studio in the city as well as a summer studio in Cresco, PA.  In New York he studied sculpture with Jose de Creeft and Ahron Ben-Schmuel.

During the 1930’s and 1940’s he exhibited widely, and his work was acquired by museums and private collectors.  A one-man show in 1937 at the Ferargil Galleries in New York drew strong reviews.  Exhibitions included the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), the Brooklyn Museum, The Whitney Museum (NYC), Le Salon d’Autonne (Paris), The Chicago Art Institute, the Pennsylvania Academy, the Carnegie Institute (Pittsburgh), the National Sculpture Society, the Sculptors Guild, and other sites.

He was sought out as a portrait sculptor and created life-like heads in stone, wood, and clay then cast in bronze. Larger works carved directly in stone included Seated Woman (1936) in Missouri marble, Girl in Granite (1937), Bison (1938) in black granite, Flight (1939) in black granite, a Mexican man and woman (1941), Lion Cub, and others.

Davis and his new wife Grethe Sundt moved to Utica, NY in 1941 where he initiated the sculpture department at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, now MUNSON.  A back injury skiing in 1943 prevented stone sculpture, and he returned to New York City and joined his father’s construction company.  He continued to produce occasional small pieces in clay but never returned to sculpture as a full-time profession.  He died in Pleasantville, NY in 1964.