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Lot Essay
While the New York art community of the 1950s was dominated by the momentum of the Abstract Expressionists, a small group of West Coast artists, led by David Park returned a more figurative style of painting known as the Bay Area Figurative Art Movement. Along with his contemporaries, Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, David Park challenged himself to apply the painterly technique learned from the abstract expressionists to a more recognizable subject matter derived from "life not art."
The Flower Seller is an seminal example of the vitality achieved by artists working within the tensions of these two opposing techniques. A remarkably confident composition, the painting depicts two figures engaged in the everyday act of buying flowers in the early morning California sun light. The subject of the composition, the flower seller, with her back turned, does not engage the viewer. However, it seems that Park's implication is for us to simply observe this intimate moment. The act of buying flowers is captured like a snapshot on a busy city sidewalk, and the subject of the composition, the arrangement of flowers is central to the composition and theme of the painting. The bouquet of flowers is a pure explosion of color and brushstroke not unlike the expressionistic watercolors by the great German Expressionist painter, Emil Nolde.
The notion of the everyday moment is witnessed in this beautifully rendered early mature work of David Park. The figures are slightly mannered in stance and relation to one another, which is indicative of the transition Park is about to make in these important years of his life's work. The rich palette of primary colors, confident brushstroke and intimate composition are clearly the work of the one of the masters of Bay Area Figurative Art. The Flower Seller invites a thoughtful and sensory-laden experience from the viewer. We are encouraged to wait our turn in line and simply enjoy the scent of the flowers until it is our good fortune to select our arrangement from David Park's exquisite composition.
The Flower Seller is an seminal example of the vitality achieved by artists working within the tensions of these two opposing techniques. A remarkably confident composition, the painting depicts two figures engaged in the everyday act of buying flowers in the early morning California sun light. The subject of the composition, the flower seller, with her back turned, does not engage the viewer. However, it seems that Park's implication is for us to simply observe this intimate moment. The act of buying flowers is captured like a snapshot on a busy city sidewalk, and the subject of the composition, the arrangement of flowers is central to the composition and theme of the painting. The bouquet of flowers is a pure explosion of color and brushstroke not unlike the expressionistic watercolors by the great German Expressionist painter, Emil Nolde.
The notion of the everyday moment is witnessed in this beautifully rendered early mature work of David Park. The figures are slightly mannered in stance and relation to one another, which is indicative of the transition Park is about to make in these important years of his life's work. The rich palette of primary colors, confident brushstroke and intimate composition are clearly the work of the one of the masters of Bay Area Figurative Art. The Flower Seller invites a thoughtful and sensory-laden experience from the viewer. We are encouraged to wait our turn in line and simply enjoy the scent of the flowers until it is our good fortune to select our arrangement from David Park's exquisite composition.