Figurative painting of the Bay Area

The denial of abstract expressionism has led artists to a style in which emotions reflect surrounding reality. Style is characterized by simplicity and brightness of the palette and form and a strong manifestation in the works of feelings ^[2] .

David Park

David Park (1911–1960) was arguably the most important artist in figurative painting of the Bay Area. The park began in San Francisco as an abstract artist, but was one of the first to engage in figurative painting. In the spring of 1951, the Park received a prize for a painting painted in this style and presented at a competition exhibition. Park's appeal to figurative art confused some of his colleagues, since at that time abstract painting was considered the only progressive art. His bold attempt to move away from abstraction to the object led to an increase in interest in figurative art, which became one of the most important post-war events in the art of the West Coast.

The transition from abstractionism to figurativeism at the Park occurred instantly. Aunt Parka said in an interview that the artist took his abstract works to a landfill and threw them away or ritually destroyed. Over the course of the year, colleagues did not even suspect this transformation ^[3] .

In 2004, an exhibition of 35 works by David Park, created from 1953 to 1960, in the last years of the artist’s life, was held at the Hackett Friedman Gallery in San Francisco. Some of the early works presented at the exhibition capture the influence on Max Beckman’s Creativity Park , which is especially noticeable in The Band (1955). For several years, the Park's palette was transformed to violent chromatism , but his sharp approach to working with paint was present in works until 1959, when the artist decided to abandon oil .

The most important works of David Park are Mother-in-law ( Mother in Law , 1954–1955), Torso ( Torso , 1959), and Figure in Chair ( Figure in Chair , 1960) ^[4] .

Elmer Bischoff

Elmer Bischoff (1916-1991) in the 1940-1950s experienced a creative period, designated by him as an imitation of Picasso ^[5] . Returning from the war in 1945, he felt the need to challenge all assumptions about art and life. When asked about this in an interview, he said: “Until now, art has been an external acquisition, but now it has become, rather, a search.” Around the same time, he temporarily worked as a teacher at the school of fine arts.

As with abstract painting, Bischoff's early figurative works quickly gained recognition. At the Fifth Annual Oil and Sculpture Exhibition at the Richmond Center for the Arts, he presented his painting “Figure and Red Wall” and received the first prize of $ 200 ^[6] . This success ensured him a solo exhibition at the Paul Cantor Gallery in Los Angeles . However, Bischoff himself considered the personal exhibition in the gallery of the California School of Fine Arts, held in January 1956, to be decisive in his career.

The most important works of Elmer Bischoff are “Figure at window with Boat” ( Figure at window with Boat , 1964), “Playground” ( Playground , 1954), “River” (The River, 1953) ^[7] .

Richard Dibenkorn

Richard Dibenkorn (1922-1993), turning to figurative art in 1955, risked the most among all artists of the first generation. By this time he was recognized at the national level as an abstractionist. Thanks to the James Johnson Sweeney exhibition Younger American Painters ^[8] made his work popular with dealers in Los Angeles and Chicago . Along with a national reputation, Dibenkorn was also a favorite abstractionist among the locals of Sausalito .

Adjacent to figurative art, Dibenkorn only in 1956 tried to create a complex figurative picture. His earliest allegedly based on self-portraits. In the mid-1960s, Dibenkorn returned to abstractionism ^[9] .

The most important works of Richard Dibenkorn are “Cityscape 1” ( Cityscape 1 , 1963), “ Interior with Doorway ” ( Interior with Doorway , 1962) ^[10] .

Theophilus Brown and Paul John Wanner

Theophilus Brown (1919-2012) and Paul John Wonner (1920-2008) were heavily influenced by more famous artists. In 1955, Brown and Wonner rented studios in the same building where Dibenkorn worked. Park, Bischoff and Dibenkorn conducted drawing sessions from nature together with Brown and Wonnerr, they were sometimes joined by James Weeks and Nathan Oliviera.

Wonner's figurative painting was exhibited at an exhibition held at the gallery of the California School of Fine Arts in late 1956. From the very beginning, Wonner adhered to the principles of presentation .

Theophilus Brown's most important works are “Sitting Naked” ( Male Nude Seated , 1960), “The Sun and the Moon” ( Sun and Moon , 1960)

The most important works of Paul John Wanner are “Side of the house, Malibu” ( Side of the house, Malibu ; 1965), “Mountain near Tucson” ( Mountain Near Tucson , 1963) ^[11] .

Roland Petersen

Roland Petersen (born 1926) began his "picnic series" in 1926. These paintings were distinguished by rich colors, thick layered pigment and geometric compositions. Petersen, who has been active in the art scene of the Bay Area for over forty years, has taught generations of artists not only painting, but also engraving and photography. Petersen's works have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the country and are featured in major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art ; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, and Philadelphia Museum of Art .

Nathan Oliveira

Nathan Oliveira (1928–2010) initially showed interest in music, which faded with age. During a trip to the de Young Memorial Museum, he decided to become a portrait painter. While serving in the army, he continued to maintain contact with the art community. The artist did not consider himself an avant-garde or part of a certain movement ^[12] .

Oliveira's early figurative works contain more detail and color, a typical example is the painting “ Seated Man with Dog ”. Works written in a studio in in 1959, in Oliveira’s own words, “became the very foundation of his entire identity as an artist.”

The most important works of Nathan Oliveira are “Sitting Man with Dog” ( Seated Man with Dog , 1957), “Walking Man” ( Man Walking , 1958), “Teenager by the Bed” ( Adolescent by the Bed , 1959).

Henrietta Burke

Henrietta Burke (1919-1990) wrote mostly in oil. Her works were distinguished by strong colors and shapes ^[13] . Burke studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Auckland from 1955 to 1959 ^{[14] [15]} , where her mentors were Richard Dibenkorn and Harry Krell ^[13] .

Bruce McGo

Bruce McGaw (born 1935) is the only second-generation artist who participated in the 1957 contemporary figurative painting of the Bay Area exhibition. He studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts and was one of the first students of Dibenkorn in 1955. A close relationship developed between McGaw and Dibenkorn ^[16] , and Dibenkorn even met with McGaw's parents to express support for their son’s work. McGaw also studied under Leon Goldin, who taught abstract painting.

The figure was not a secret hobby for McGaw. Like other artists of the second generation, he was not limited to any specific direction and moved from one style to another. One of McGow's first mature figurative works clearly demonstrated the influence of Dibenkorn, but he also showed his own ideas. He liked to work on a very small scale, he broke the body into standard types of torso or unusual details.

The most important works of Bruce McGaw are “Abstraction” ( Abstraction , 1955), “Figure” ( Figure , 1957), “ Patt's Feet ” ( Patt's Feet , 1957).

Joan Brown

Joan Brown (1938-1990) worked in figurative painting from 1955 to 1965, and half of this time she was a student at the California Institute of Fine Arts. As a result, the period of mature figurative art is her shortest among the most significant artists. Despite this, its productivity allowed to create some of the most important works of figurative painting of the Bay Area ^[17] .

After high school, her parents wanted to send her to Lone Mountain, a women's Catholic college. In search of an alternative, she came across an advertisement for the California School of Fine Arts. She liked the atmosphere in the school, although Joan did not have much interest in painting. After a not-so-successful first year, she wanted to quit her studies, but in the end she stayed thanks to a meeting with her future husband, Bill Brown, who advised me to take a landscape course at Bischoff. He also introduced her to the history of art, offering to read several books about Goya , Velazquez , Rembrandt and the Impressionists .

The most important works of Joan Brown - “ Woman and Dog in Room with Chinese Rug” (1975), “ Noel at the Table with a Large Vase of Fruit” ( Noel at the Table with a Large Bowl of Fruit , 1963) ^[18] .

Manuel Neri

Manuel Neri (born 1930) is a sculptor. Like all the young artists of the Bay Area, he was an adherent of abstract art in the early stages of his career. He turned to figurative art after graduating from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1959. In his work, Neri paid attention to color and form, while leaving a vague content. It was the non-specificity of his figures and their abstract qualities that made him part of the figurative art of the Bay Area, and not just a modern American figurative sculptor.

Neri, like Nathan Oliveira, was not interested in art in his youth. Neri chose the course of ceramics at the school because of its ease in comparison with other subjects. His teacher was Roy Walker, who encouraged art classes. As a result, Neri abandoned his career as an engineer and in 1951 began to study at the California College of Arts and Crafts, although he officially entered it only in 1952.

The most important works of Manuel Neri are “Untitled Standing Figure” (1956-1957), “College Painting No. 1” (College Painting No. 1, 1958-1959) ^[19] .

• Boas, Nancy (2012). David Park: A Painter's Life. Berkeley: University of California. ISBN 9780520268418
• Chadwick, Witney (1984). "Narrative Imagism and the Figurative Tradition in Northern California Painting." Art Journal 45 (4), 309.
• Falk, Peter Hastings. (1999) Who Was Who in American Art: 1564-1975 , Madison, CT: Sound View Press, Vol. I, p. 143.
• Gomez, Edward M. (February 5, 1990). " The San Francisco Rebellion ." Time
• Jones, Caroline A. (1990) Bay Area Figurative Art: 1950-1965 , Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-06842-4
• Knight, Christopher (December 15, 1989). " ART REVIEW: Figurative '50s Work Whose Time Has Come ." Los Angeles Times.
• Landauer, Susan (2000) The Lighter Side of Bay Area Figuration , San Jose, CA: Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, ISBN 1-891246-03-8
• Landauer, Susan (2001). Elmer Bischoff: The Ethics of Paint. Berkeley: University of California. ISBN 0520230426
• Livingston, Jane, John Elderfield (1997). The Art of Richard Diebenkorn. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1997. ISBN 0520212584
• Van Proyen, Mark. “David Park at Hackett-Freedman.” Art In America 92, no. 4 (April 2004): 140-141. Art Full Text (HW Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed May 13, 2016).

• Review / Art: San Francisco Revolution in Style Recalled in a Traveling Exhibition by Roberta Smith, The New York Times , August 29, 1990.
• "The Lighter Side of Bay Area Figuration" , San Jose Museum of Art, September 3-November 26, 2000.