David Park (1911-1960)

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, focused their efforts on developing a contrasting figurative style which came to be known as the Bay Area Figurative Art Movement. Bearing the inscription "work of my late husband David Park c. 1955-59, Lydia Park Moore, 8-29-66" on the reverse, Reclining Nude was drawn in the midst of this movement's formative period. In its simplicity this drawing exhibits stylistic traits central to Park's paintings such as a bold line and flattened picture plane. Most likely created in the context of a "drawing from life" session held by Park and his contemporaries, Reclining Nude is an emphatic reminder of the artist's devotion to a subject matter derived from life.