Description
Book SynopsisDavid Park (1911-1960), transplanted Bostonian turned ground-breaking West Coast painter, led the way in creating what became known as Bay Area Figurative Art - a daring move during the post-World War II years when abstract expressionism held sway. This biography traces Park's resolute search for a fresh kind of figuration.
Trade Review"The first full biographical portrait, not a memoir, of Park (1911-1960), the reticent founder of Bay Area Figuration, the region's only modern art movement so far to win global recognition." -- Kenneth Baker San Francisco Chronicle "Even insiders who thought they knew this complicated artist will know him far better thanks to Boas." San Francisco Chronicle "Just as Park put the humanity back into an era of abstraction, Boas brings David Park the man into the foreground in a literary and historical sense." Huffington Post "A welcome volume." Los Angeles Times "[Boas's] passion shows in how persuasively she argues for a wider recognition of Park's importance." Art Critical "Shows how Park conferred a human presence on the painting of his time, influencing artists such as Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff." San Jose Mercury News "An enthralling read." San Francisco Magazine "[David Park's] bold colors and everyday subjects helped usher in a new modernism." Berkeleyside "[A project] put together with care." San Francisco Chronicle
Table of ContentsPrologue. Values, Not Scenes 1. First Years, 1911--1928 2. Out West, 1928--1930 3. New Friends, 1931--1934 4. Genesis, 1934--1936 5. Back East, 1936--1941 6. The War Effort, 1941--1944 7. The California School of Fine Arts, 1945--1946 8. In the Studio, 1946--1949 9. I Call Them Pictures, 1950--1953 10. A Single Self, 1953--1955 11. From Domestic Scenes to Bathers and Nudes, 1955--1958 12. Image and Void, 1958--1959 13. End Story, 1959--1960 14. The Life of the Work, after 1960 Coda. The Blaze in the Darkness Acknowledgments Notes Selected Bibliography List of Illustrations Index
