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Four Women

Stark overhead light illuminates the titular Four Women in David Park’s painting. Side by side, they are all nude and standing except the second from the right who is kneeling. In a loose expressionist style, minimal brush strokes are used to efficiently convey the poses without filling in the details. Aside from one shadow behind the woman on the left, there is no sense of usual perspective in the background. The background colors just fill the space between the women:

Saffron yellow at the top, white on the left, orange red in the center, and navy blue on the right. This oil painting, produced in 1959, stands fifty-seven inches high by seventy-five and a half inches wide.

The woman on the left stands with her weight on her right leg, left leg slightly forward and bent. She holds her right hand to her face as if she’s taking a drag on a cigarette. The right side of her body including both legs and most of what we see of her face is cast in dark brown and slightly reddish shadow. She has a black blurry ponytail, thick thighs, flat breasts and full belly. A couple dark brown dabs imply her eyes.

To her right and slightly behind her, the second woman is thinner and appears pale as the light hits her most directly. Her left leg is bent and everything below that knee is dark brown. Her torso is mostly white except for a dark patch on her crotch, her belly button, and under the outside of her small breasts. She has her hands behind her back, appears to have blonde hair to her shoulder that falls image left, and tan shadows bluntly mark her eyes, nose and mouth.

In front of her on the right is another woman who is kneeling with her left arm braced on her thigh and right hand holding the side of her neck. The light is slightly behind her casting bright white highlights on her short blueish hair, the tops of her shoulders, right arm, and left thigh. Her face is slightly lowered in shadow, appearing reddish brown with one streak of blue coming down over her left eye. Her belly and right breast are also in shadow, rendered in shades of brown, tan, and a little bit of blue. Her left breast catches some light and appears supple.

On the far right is a tall woman standing with her left hand on her hip. The bright light highlights her shoulders, the tops of her medium sized breasts, and belly. The inside of her right thigh and her left leg are in dark shadow as well as the underside of her breasts and left arm. Her head is blurry, long, and grey with hollow cheeks. A couple black spots for eyes and a small black ellipse form an unsettling, almost alien face.