A rare portrait by Park that is imbued with all the colour and bold brushwork that the artist is better known for in his impressionist paintings of St Ives harbour. Exhibited in Amongst Heroes; The Artist in Working Cornwall, at 2 Temple Place, London.
A self-portrait resides in the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston and Park painted Aloysius Smith (Trader Horn) but apart from these paintings and the present work, there are few records of Park portraiture. This may therefore be the only St Ives portrait by Park in existence which is surprising because Park executes St Ives Fisherman, painted in 1929, so very well.
The brushwork is no less bold and fluid than in the artist’s harbour scenes and he captures the fisherman in a moment of reflection with an expressiveness that seems to have come easily. Park the colourist is also apparent in the warm tones and contrasting green hue that he uses to render the old fisherman's characterful face. The work was shown at Two Temple Place, London in 2013 in the wonderful exhibition; Amongst Heroes -The Artist in Working Cornwall.