Parisian View ~ 1966

Oil on Canvas (20-3⁄4" x 26-1⁄4")

 

Sights of Paris ~1966

Sketch 4" x 6-1/2"

 

It was during the late 60’s that David began to develop what would become his fantasy approach to portraying cities. The paintings in this mode would include Paris, Venice, Bridgeport, CT, and New York. Although the paintings were completely different, the approach used was the same in each case. Significant, iconic, or just interesting architectural structures were selected and assembled together using extensions of the elements’ horizontal, vertical, and curvilinear lines to form a complex and coherent geometry, amplified by patterns of light and dark as they are juxtaposed to one another. Finally, the composition is further defined by fields of complementary colors. Although the architectural elements would be more or less recognizable, their orientation in the composition and the associated colors would have little or no relation to their actual geography. It was the way in which recognizable shapes were assembled that was the fantasy. As such, the resulting painting was fundamentally an abstraction but with recognizable elements throughout that could appeal to a public more comfortable with representational art.