Untitled - Parker, Raymond

Fine Art

Parker, Raymond

Raymond Parker was born in 1922 in South Dakota. After earning his MFA from the University of Iowa in 1949, Parker taught art at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He then moved to New York City in 1951 where he became a Professor of Art at Hunter College, where he taught for decades.

Parker was heavily influenced by Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, and jazz music, which he actually used as inspiration for improvising his paintings. In the late 1950s and mid 1960s, Parker was represented by the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, which also featured the work of Pablo Picasso, Hans Hofmann, Zao Wou Ki, and others. Parker is best known for his series of works titled Simple Paintings, which present floating clouds of bold colors on large white canvases.

Our example features a bright blue background with thick strokes of various pinks, purple, and brown. The colors embolden his classic style of thick, simple strokes.