David Park

Key facts

Lived

1911–1960, American^[1]

Movements

• Abstract Expressionism
• Bay Area Figurative Movement

^[1]

Works held in

6 museums

Wikipedia

View article

Plan your visit to see David Park →

• What is David Park known for?+

  David Park is known for his association with the Bay Area Figurative movement. He made a clean break from Abstract Expressionism^[1] by discarding his abstract canvases and returning to the figure. His early figurative works were known for their deliberate awkwardness.
• What is David Park's most famous work?+

  David Park is best known for his figurative paintings from the 1950s. He turned away from pure abstraction, joining artists such as Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn in what became known as the Bay Area Figurative Movement^[1]. While Park produced many notable works, 'Rehearsal' (1950^[1]) is often cited as his most famous. This oil on canvas painting depicts a group of musicians, rendered in a simplified, almost blocky style. The composition is fairly dense, with the figures closely packed together. The colours are muted, dominated by browns, blues, and greys. 'Rehearsal' marks a clear departure from Park's earlier abstract expressionist works. It signals his move towards a more representational style. Another important painting is 'Four Men' (1958), which shows four figures seated together. Similar to 'Rehearsal', the figures are simplified and somewhat abstracted, yet clearly recognisable. These paintings established Park as a leading figure in the Bay Area art scene and helped to redefine figurative painting in the post-war period.
• What should I know about David Park's prints?+

  When considering David Park's prints, bear in mind some basic facts about the medium. A print is an image conceived by the artist as a print and executed solely as a print, usually in a numbered edition, and signed. Each print in the edition is an original, printed individually from a plate, stone, screen or block created for that purpose. There is no single original print from which copies are made. The artist decides the number of prints in the edition. The numbering provides an accounting for the number of prints in the edition; each has a specific number (for example, 12/25 means the edition is 25, and the print is number 12). The edition claim is written as a pair of numbers on the left bottom margin of the print; it consists of a print number and an edition number written as a group with a short separating line between them. The title of the print is written in the middle of the bottom margin, and the signature is on the right. Edition descriptions are always signed in pencil.
• What style or movement did David Park belong to?+

  David Park is associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement. This group of artists, active in Northern California during the 1950s, turned away from Abstract Expressionism^[1]. Park, along with Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn, felt that Abstract Expressionism had become formulaic. Diebenkorn said it was becoming "a book of rules". The Bay Area Figuratives rejected avant-gardism, seeking an art that was approachable. Park stated that "concepts of progress in painting are rather foolish". Their aim was to be "more humble, more down to earth, more every day, more accessible" than the New York School. Many of the Bay Area Figuratives, including Park, gravitated towards still life and subjects from their immediate surroundings. Park's still life paintings, such as "Table with Fruit" (1951^[1]-52), presented ordinary domestic scenes. These works contrasted with the lofty aspirations of Abstract Expressionism. By the mid-1950s, Park and Bischoff began to incorporate elements of gesture painting into their work. Park's still lifes showed a pleasure in the spontaneous handling of paint.
• What techniques or materials did David Park use?+

  David Park's techniques involved a varied approach to materials. He had factory experience with metalwork, and he applied this knowledge to sculpture. Smith stated, 'My method of shaping material or arriving at form has been as functional as making a motor car or a locomotive'. Before turning to sculpture, Smith worked with lead, brass, and aluminium, combining these with stone and coral. He arc-welded his first piece in 1939^[1], and his method involved using equipment and materials similar to those used in locomotive production. Smith aimed for functional form, without aesthetic interest in tool marks or surface decoration. Smith had no fixed method, and he stated that 'I cannot conceive a work and buy material for it. I can find or discover a part'. He often used found parts, allowing them to cure and develop a fluidity before incorporating them into his work. Smith also used steel, which he considered highly versatile. He also experimented with bronze casting, often using parts in a different order than initially intended.
• What was David Park known for?+

  David Park (1911^[1]-1960^[1]) is known for his association with the Bay Area Figurative movement. This group of Northern California artists, including Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn, moved away from Abstract Expressionism^[1] in the 1950s. They sought a more accessible and humble style, reacting against what they saw as the empty rhetoric and rigid rules of the New York School. Park famously stated that "concepts of progress in painting are rather foolish." Park's initial figurative works included still lifes depicting simple subjects. Table with Fruit (1951^[1]-52), for example, evokes the intimacy of late-19th-century art, but without stylistic virtuosity. His compositions used idiosyncratic elements, such as echoing stripes and plain plank floors. Exaggerated foreshortening and perspective sometimes gave his work a cartoon-like quality. By the mid-1950s, Park began to incorporate aspects of gesture painting into his work. Still lifes such as Brush and Comb (1956) showed a pleasure in spontaneous paint handling. In 1958, he designed sets for theatrical productions. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1960.
• When did David Park live and work?+

  David Park was born on 9 March 1911^[1] in Boston, Massachusetts. He died in Berkeley, California, on 20 September 1960^[1]. Park's early artistic training occurred during his teenage years. He attended the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles for several months in 1928^[1]. Park is associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement^[1]. This was a mid-20th-century artistic development centred in the San Francisco Bay Area, during the 1950s and 1960s, when many artists shifted from pure abstraction back to figurative painting. Park was among the first to do so. He taught art for much of his adult life. He was a faculty member at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) from 1943 to 1952. He also taught at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1955 until his death.
• Where can I see David Park's work?+

  To view the work of David Park, you could visit several museums. In the United States, these include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York. Other options are the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, located at 2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis, and the Museum of Modern Art, at 11 West 53rd Street in New York City. You could also try the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard, Richmond. Outside the United States, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto may hold relevant works. It is located at 100 Queens Park, Toronto. These museums all hold significant collections and may include pieces by Park.
• Where was David Park from?+

  David Park was associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement. This group included Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn. They moved away from Abstract Expressionism^[1], which they felt had become formulaic. Park, in particular, thought concepts of progress in painting were "rather foolish". Born in 1911^[1], Park created art that was approachable and self-effacing. His initial figurative works included still lifes with homely subjects, a contrast to Abstract Expressionism's lofty aims. Table with Fruit, from 1951^[1]-52, may depict the artist's dining room. The painting has an intimacy reminiscent of late-nineteenth-century Bonnard or Vuillard. Unlike the French Intimistes' colour and form, Table with Fruit does not attempt stylistic virtuosity. Park was the first of the group to move in a figurative direction. Bischoff's first figurative works had a straightforward naturalism, without Park's playful caricature. By the mid-1950s, Park and Bischoff had softened their reactionary attitudes toward Abstract Expressionism. They began to re-incorporate aspects of gesture painting into their work.
• Who did David Park influence?+

  David Park is known for his association with the Bay Area Figurative Movement. This group of artists, including Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn, reacted against Abstract Expressionism^[1] in the 1950s. Diebenkorn stated that Abstract Expressionism was becoming too formulaic. Park famously said that "concepts of progress in painting are rather foolish". The Bay Area Figuratives sought a more approachable art, in contrast to the New York School's monumental abstractions. Bischoff wanted an expression that was "more humble, more down to earth, more every day, more accessible". Park's initial figurative works included still lifes with ordinary subjects. His painting, *Table with Fruit* (1951^[1]-52), has the intimacy of a late-nineteenth-century Bonnard or Vuillard, but without their stylistic virtuosity. Park's exaggerated perspective reads like caricature, reminiscent of Grant Wood or Thomas Hart Benton. Bischoff's first figurative works had a straightforward naturalism, sharing Park's desire to return to perceptual reality. By the mid-1950s, Park and Bischoff began reincorporating aspects of gesture painting into their work.
• Who influenced David Park?+

  David Park is associated with the Bay Area Figurative movement. However, information about his direct influences is scarce. One can infer influences by examining the artists that his contemporaries admired. For example, one artist mentioned Analytic Cubism, particularly the work of Braque and Picasso, as formative during their college years. Early Kandinsky and Miró were also important, with Matisse and Mondrian on the periphery. This artist exhaustively analysed the structure of paintings by these figures. Matisse's work was influential to some artists in the 1940s. By 1950^[1]-51, Pollock, de Kooning and Rothko had become mentors to some. Gorky's work was also very important; one artist saw *Agony* (1947) and *The Liver Is the Cock's Comb* (1944) at his 1951 Whitney exhibition. The New York School artists had emerged from various influences and developed their own statements.
• Who was David Park?+

  David Park (1911^[1]-1960^[1]) was an American^[1] painter associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he moved to Los Angeles in 1928^[1] and studied at the Otis Art Institute. By 1929, he had relocated to Berkeley. Park taught at the Winsor School for Girls after returning to Boston in 1936. He went back to California in 1941 and, in 1943, began teaching at the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA) in San Francisco. He served as interim director of CSFA in 1950 but resigned in protest two years later. In 1955, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley. Park is known for discarding his abstract paintings in 1949 and turning to figurative work. He and other Bay Area Figuratives, such as Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn, rejected Abstract Expressionism^[1], finding it formulaic. They sought a more accessible and humble form of art. Park's early figurative works included still lifes, such as *Table with Fruit* (1951-52), which presented familiar, domestic subjects. He designed sets for theatrical productions in 1958. Park was diagnosed with cancer in 1960 and died that same year.