# Warren B. Davis artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/warren-b-davis/
Profile generated: 2026-05-30T04:21:15.314Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Death date: 1928-09-26
- Nationality: American
- Movements: American Golden Age of Illustration
- Common media: Oil painting, Editorial and commercial illustration

## About Warren B. Davis

Warren B. Davis (1865–1928), born Warren Burnham Davis in New York City, was an American painter and commercial illustrator whose career spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He trained at the Art Students League in New York and became part of the flourishing ecosystem of mass-market periodical illustration centered in Lower Manhattan. Davis contributed editorial art and commercial illustration to prominent publications including The Century, Collier's, Life, The Saturday Evening Post, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. In addition to his illustration work, he produced genre paintings and fine art for private clients. He remained active until his death in Brooklyn on September 26, 1928. Davis is recognized in the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the Library of Congress name authority file, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History.

## Common works and media

Davis produced genre paintings in oil as well as editorial illustrations for leading American periodicals. Works most likely to appear at auction include oil-on-canvas genre scenes, illustration studies on board or paper, and published prints or reproductions derived from his commercial commissions. Subjects range from figurative genre compositions to editorial imagery created for magazines such as The Century, Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post, Vogue, and Vanity Fair.

## Market and appraisal context

Warren B. Davis's work appears in auction contexts as both original paintings and periodical illustration art. Key factors for appraisal include confirming attribution to Davis, distinguishing original paintings or works on paper from printed reproductions, identifying the medium and support, and establishing provenance. Genre scenes and editorial illustrations are the most commonly encountered categories. The artist's entry in Bénézit, Fielding's dictionary, and Falk's Who Was Who in American Art provides standard biographical reference points for attribution research. Collectors should note that illustration art and fine art by the same artist can differ significantly in market positioning.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine verified artist identity research from library authority files and reference dictionaries with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For Warren B. Davis, identity data is grounded in the Getty ULAN, VIAF, Library of Congress, RKD, and Wikidata authority records, supplemented by biographical entries in Bénézit and Fielding's dictionary as cited by the RKD.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/20246
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500025393
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/90528724/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7970036
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2009089118
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_B._Davis