After taking David Park’s drawing class at the University of California, Berkeley, Tom Jefferson (“Jeff”) was invited to model for regular life-drawing sessions held by Park, Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn, and others. With the knowledge gained from many sketches, Park painted this portrait and gave it to Jeff as a gift. With broad, bold brushstrokes, Park captured the student’s essence—“zip, zip, zip and there you are,” Jim Nichols, Jeff’s Berkeley roommate, commented. “It’s a portrait and it looks like Jeff—the ears, the kind of nose, the stance, the chunkiness of the body versus the head, the folded arms.” It seems to sum up everything Park knew about his model—the self-confidence, the beautiful youthful body, the majestic stance. —Nancy Boas

Explore David Park’s, Untitled (Portrait of Tom Jefferson) through this collection of essays by Helen Park Bigelow, Nancy Boas, and John Seed.