David Park A Painters Life

"At last a reliable and enlightening biography of David Parkand#151;one of America's most original artists. Boas fills in the many gaps of Park's life, all of which influenced his art."and#151;Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation

and#147;This book makes a very important contribution to the literature on David Park and on Bay Area art from the 1930s through the 1950s more generally. Nancy Boas has done a tremendous amount of research on her subject, presenting totally new information on Parkand#8217;s art and life in polished prose that will attract a wide audience within the art world. There is no question that this will become the standard biography on Park.and#8221;and#151;Steven Nash, Executive Director, Palm Springs Art Museum

and#147;This is a well-researched, engaging, and informative biography, detailing the life and work of one of Californiaand#8217;s most important modern artists. Nancy Boas inspires a deep admiration for David Parkand#8217;s late figurative paintings, and anyone with an interest in Park and his milieu will find this a valuable and engrossing book.and#8221;and#151;David Cateforis, Professor of Art History, University of Kansas

“A welcome volume.” Los Angeles Times

and#8220;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.and#8221;

“An enthralling read.” San Francisco Magazine

“[A project] put together with care.” San Francisco Chronicle

and#8220;[David Parkand#8217;s] bold colors and everyday subjects helped usher in a new modernism.and#8221;

and#8220;Even insiders who thought they knew this complicated artist will know him far better thanks to Boas.and#8221;

“[Boass] passion shows in how persuasively she argues for a wider recognition of Parks importance.” Los Angeles Times

and#8220;Shows how Park conferred a human presence on the painting of his time, influencing artists such as Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff.and#8221;

"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."

“A welcome volume.” Huffington Post

and#8220;A welcome volume.and#8221;

and#8220;[Boasand#8217;s] passion shows in how persuasively she argues for a wider recognition of Parkand#8217;s importance.and#8221;

and#8220;An enthralling read.and#8221;

and#8220;[A project] put together with care.and#8221;

David Park (1911and#150;1960), transplanted Bostonian turned ground-breaking West Coast painter, led the way in creating what became known as Bay Area Figurative Artand#151;a daring move during the post-World War II years when abstract expressionism held sway. In this beautifully illustrated biography, compiled from comprehensive and sweeping interviews, Nancy Boas traces Parkand#8217;s resolute search for a new kind of figuration, one that would penetrate abstract expressionismand#8217;s thickly layered surfaces and infuse them with human presence. Boas changes our understanding of Park as a painter, highlighting his strong influence on Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, and other artists at the California School of Fine Arts and the University of California, Berkeley. She plunges us into the lively 1940s and 1950s Bay Area art scene, pointing to Parkand#8217;s work as a bold alternative to the abstractions of Clyfford Still. As the book deepens our admiration for Parkand#8217;s figurative paintings, it affirms his stature as a major figure in American art, one who spurred the figurative impulse across the United States and abroad.

Nancy Boas is the author of The Society of Six: California Colorists (UC Press) and a contributor to the exhibition and catalog Facing Eden: 100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area (UC Press). She was Adjunct Curator of American Paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and co-curated the exhibition California Colorists: Paintings by the Society of Six.

Prologue. Values, Not Scenes

1. First Years, 1911and#150;1928

2. Out West, 1928and#150;1930

3. New Friends, 1931and#150;1934

4. Genesis, 1934and#150;1936

5. Back East, 1936and#150;1941

6. The War Effort, 1941and#150;1944

7. The California School of Fine Arts, 1945and#150;1946

8. In the Studio, 1946and#150;1949

9. I Call Them Pictures, 1950and#150;1953

10. A Single Self, 1953and#150;1955

11. From Domestic Scenes to Bathers and Nudes, 1955and#150;1958

12. Image and Void, 1958and#150;1959

13. End Story, 1959and#150;1960

14. The Life of the Work, after 1960

Coda. The Blaze in the Darkness

Acknowledgments

Notes

Selected Bibliography

List of Illustrations

Index