Visit to #FortWorth #Texas 7and 8th Sept #DavidPark exhibition

Leaving Dallas for Fort Worth, our Sat Nav decided to take us the longer scenic route. Still arriving early morning, we decided to visit the #Stockyards as this was on the way to the hotel. This is a small town still meant to look like the old west. Apart from Sue, sitting on a real Long Horn cattle and having a shock when what she thought was a fake one moved, there wasn't as much there as we expected. Although it was interesting to explore and we did see a wild west show and a small cattle drive.

The next day, we decided to drive to the nearby cultural area to see the Monet exhibition, as this wasn't open until later, we went into the Modern Art Gallery.
Here several of the well known artists were represented, such as Picasso, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein as well as several lesser known artists. 

Passing what looked like someone had been to the toilet in the corner, we explored the other room. Sometimes, you wonder why some works are placed next to each other with a traditional photographic landscape next to a hoop of wood. Like a lot of modern art, I am sometimes impressed and at other times I despair.

The biggest surprise was on the top floor, where there was a retrospective of David Park's work, an artist I had never heared of.

David Park (March 17, 1911 – September 20, 1960) was an American painter and a pioneer of the Bay Area Figurative Movement in painting during the 1950s.

It is always interesting to see how an artist's work progresses, as they mature. In this case, David worked through several styles from early figurative work to cubist paintings before settling on a freer style of figurative painting. 

He became known for his paintings of bathers and rowers before his later canvases of everyday topics. Eventually, with failing health he did a series of works on paper.

From a personal point of view, I liked the life studies done by him and his friends, as I could relate to the way they used these sessions to experiment with differ materials and ways to capture the human figure.

,An excellent and unexpected surprise that made our morning in the gallery. It also gave me chance to do a figure study capturing this lady as she stood admiring a painting.