Brian Gross Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening of Bay Area Figurative Drawing: 1958 - 1968, an exhibition of drawings from the historic period of Bay Area figuration, on Saturday, January 7, 2017.

This exhibition features works on paper by many of the major artists in the movement, including David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, Paul Wonner, William Theophilus Brown, Nathan Oliveira, James Weeks, Frank Lobdell, Bruce McGaw, and William H. Brown. Bay Area Figurative Drawing: 1958 - 1968 will be on view through February 25, 2017.

Led by David Park, the Bay Area Figurative Movement began as a rejection of the pure abstract painting coming from New York in the 1940s-1950s, and represented locally by Clyfford Still’s powerful influence at the then California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute.

Not a complete rejection of abstraction, Bay Area figuration combined abstraction with traditional realism to form a unique and distinct hybrid. The works in the show include still lifes, portraits, and figurative studies, revealing how each artist both developed and expanded the movement while also creating a distinct style within it.