Spanish Tavern

There is no one alive who can paint and draw like Dean Cornwell. How can that be? They do not train artists the way they did. He was Norman Rockwell's favorite illustrator.
The present work exemplifies Cornwell's masterful design sense anchored in formal structure. To direct the viewer's eye, he employs complex compositional devices rooted in traditional academic painting of the Old Masters. In this group portrait depicting 14 subjects, his complex composition has an alternating distribution of positive and negative space. Reds and blacks are reprised as the viewer pans the scene from left to right. Vertical and horizontal elements, such as the blue door post, the blue chair, and the red tapestry, form a pictorial architecture that contains the free-flowing figures. Squint your eyes, and the nature of the work comes alive, being as abstract as it is representational. For this assignment, Cornwell was hired to illustrate a magazine story about a Spanish bar. He brilliantly captures a high moment of festive drama, but the real narrative is about the connection and disconnection of glances. The barmaids are all young and attractive. Their off-the-shoulder, vivid vermillion costumes add to their flirty eroticism in contrast to the brooding, half-drunk men. Historically, festive bar/restaurant scenes depicted only happy moments, with everyone smiling. Cornwell breaks with tradition and goes deeper into the human condition. Signed and dated lower left
Signed and dated lower left $350,000