“The paint quality of these later figures also owe something to the life drawings. In the drawings, Park developed the ability to be free, broad, spontaneous in his approach, to be a little heedless and indifferent about the specific result, to let splashes of ink, footprints, and doodles accumulate on them.”
During the height of Abstract Expressionism in New York, David Park led the charge for the reinvigoration of figuration in the Bay Area. After working abstractly in the mid to late 1940s, Park found more artistic freedom when immersing himself in the subject matter. The artist’s drawings served as the foundation for his output of paintings during his mature period in the final decade of his life.
Male Nude was likely executed during one of the weekly live model drawing sessions between 1953 and 1959 with fellow artists including Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, James Weeks, William Theophilus Brown, and Paul Wonner, among others. In these sessions, the artists experimented with a range of props, poses, and media. Richard Diebenkorn accredited the live model drawing sessions with his transition from abstraction to representation, stating “the seeds of what was going to happen to me were in those portrait drawing sessions.” (Richard Diebenkorn, transcript of oral history interview with Susan Larsen, 1 May 1985, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution). The drawing sessions also created a sense of shared camaraderie and creative exchange, integral elements for artists working against the grain of the artistic idiom en vogue at the t.mes .
Right: Fig. 2 David Park, Standing Male Nude in the Shower, circa 1955-57 (sold at Replica Shoes ’s New York, 15 May 2007)
Using the medium of drawing in an exploratory manner, Park drew upon these studies to translate his figurative compositions to the canvas. In his ink drawings and paintings alike, Park applied the same tactic of dissolving the distinction between line and shape by creating form, shadow, and highlights out of brushstrokes.
In Male Nude, Park portrayed a sculptural nude whose body is given volume through his ink brushstrokes. By approaching the figure head-on with a brushy touch, Park invites a thoughtful and sensory-laden experience, as we are encouraged to appreciate the beauty of the male nude who confronts viewers with a pensive posture evoking psychological depth. The drawing also provides an intimate window into the practice of an artist who spearheaded the departure from Abstract Expressionism to embrace figuration and objectivity in American painting.
H ighlighted by David Park’s Figures with Rowboat from 1956 and Fairfield Porter’s Girl on a Swing from 1961, the Blinken collects ion thoughtfully explores the nuances of representational and abstract art from the last sixty years. From the immediacy and freshness of the works on paper by Paul Wonner to the bold mixed media garden painting by Jennifer Bartlett, this intimate collects ion encapsulates the thoughtful and discerning eye of Ambassador Alan Blinken and his beloved wife of 51 years, Melinda Blinken.
Ambassador Blinken served as the United States Ambassador to Belgium from 1993-1998. Until his appointment as Ambassador, he was a Partner and Managing Director of Wertheim Schroder & Co., Inc. in New York City. He also served as a member of the New York State Economic Development Zone Commission and New York City Community Board 8. He and his wife were dedicated New Yorkers and devoted philanthropists. He was a board member of the Center for National Policy, the International Crisis Group, the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens, and the African Medical and Research Foundation. He was Chairman of the Washington Center for 17 years and a board member of the National Wildlife Federation and the New York Public Library. The late Melinda Koch Blinken epitomized New York elegance. She was a trustee and founding docent at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and served in multiple capacities throughout her storied life with the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Meridian House International, Heinz Center for Biodiversity, and the Advisory Board of the Evelyn Lauder Breast Cancer Foundation, among others.
Sotheby’s is honored to present works of art and jewelry from the Blinken collects
ion across a series of auctions this fall and spring.