Writer on art and painter, born in Pontypool, Monmouthshire, whose pictures were mainly plein-air landscapes, especially of Cornwall and France. Davies studied art history at the University of East Anglia, 1972–6, then life drawing under Joe McGill at Chelsea School of Art evening classes, 1985–90. Davies wrote a string of books on modern British art, including the pioneering A Northern School, 1989, Liverpool Seen, 1992, also St Ives Revisited, 1994, After Trewyn: St Ives Sculptors since Hepworth, 2001, and a monograph, Bratby, in 2002. Group shows included A Northern School, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, 1990; Domino Gallery, Liverpool, 1992; Harlech Biennale and Graham Gallery, Tunbridge Wells, both 1996; and Clevedon: Sharing a View, APT Gallery and tour, 1997–8.