Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1900.001.053 |
Object Name |
Painting |
Collection |
Statehouse Artwork Collection/Governors' Portraits |
Title |
Portrait of Martin Davey |
Artist |
Novotny, Elmer Ladislaw, 1902-1997 |
Date |
ca. 1939 |
Description |
Martin Davey, Ohio's 53rd governor (1935-1939), is seen seated in a wooden chair. He wears a three-piece black suit with a white shirt and red and light blue tie. There is a pearl stick pin in his tie. He has a white handkerchief in his proper left breast pocket and wears a silver ring. |
Material |
Oil Paint/Canvas/Wood |
Notes |
Martin L. Davey was born in Kent, Ohio on July 25, 1884. In his youth he went door-to-door selling homemade products to support his family's income. After graduating from public schools, he attended Oberlin College, but he would leave ahead of graduation to support his father's fledgling tree expert business, the Davey Tree Expert Company. The younger Davey became president of the successful company in 1923 and would serve at its helm until his passing. Davey was elected mayor of Kent, Ohio in 1913 and served three terms. He was also elected to represent Ohio's 14th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1918, 1922, 1924 and 1926. After his time in Congress, Davey went back to Ohio and lost his initial gubernatorial bid in 1928, which led him to enter the real estate business as treasurer of the Davey Compressor Company. In the summer of 1934, Davey wrote to 50,000 constituents asking their opinion on whether he should run for governor of Ohio. Later, he would write them again to confirm his intentions, and he was elected as the 53rd governor of Ohio that same year. As governor, he enacted legislation guaranteeing $48 million in state funds for local schools--a sizeable economic feat during the Great Depression. His administration overhauled Ohio's Relief Administration and established state unemployment insurance. Davey also ousted the controversial warden, Preston Thomas, who oversaw the Ohio State Penitentiary at the time of the fatal prison fire in 1930. After scandals associated with the Davey administration, he lost the 1938 gubernatorial primary and the 1940 election, so he returned to the business sphere and was active in local war efforts during World War II. Davey died on March 31, 1946. In 1939, the Davey Tree Expert Company dedicated an elm tree to the state of Ohio in their leader's honor; the tree and its commemorative plaque remain on the South Plaza of the Ohio Statehouse to this day. |
Provenance |
In 1867, the Ohio General Assembly passed a joint resolution relative to the governors of Ohio. The legislators resolved that "the secretary of state, on the first Monday of January next, whether the portraits of the governors of Ohio, state and territorial, can be procured, and if so, whether original portraits or copies, and the probable expense of procuring such portraits for the governor's office." This portrait was painted and signed by E.L. Novotny. No written documentation has been located on this portrait. The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board took over the care of the Statehouse and its collections in 1988. |
Image size |
25" x 30" |
Frame size |
28-1/2" x 33-1/2" |
Frame desc |
Mid-twentieth century gilt frame with carved geometric decoration |
People |
Davey, Martin L. (Martin Luther), 1884-1946 Novotny, Elmer Ladislaw, 1902-1997 |
Search Terms |
Ohio Governor Ohio Governor's Portraits |
Subjects |
Governors Painting Portrait paintings |