Key West
Watercolor by Parker E. (Woody) Panttila

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Beach Dunes
Beach Dunes
Beach Dunes
Parker E. (Woody) Panttila (1924-2002)
Key West
American: 1971
Signed, titled, dated lower right: "Key West, P.E. Panttila, March 6, 1971"
Watercolor on paper
40 x 28 inches, overall
Provenance: Estate of the Artist
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Sunlit landscape scene of palms and foliage in a garden in Key West, Florida. The focal point is a tall, graceful palm with a curving trunk, forming a diagonal division of the page. The artist has subtly introduced diagonal cloud formations in the opposite direction to unite the composition, and the paint handling suggests sea breezes blowing through the fronds.

Parker E. Panttila, who was known informally by his nickname, Woody, was an artist who produced still lifes and landscape paintings, lithographs and found object metal welded sculpture. His paintings and prints were in a realist vein, while his sculptures were of whimsical figures and animals. He studied at the Chicago Art Institute, where he met his life partner, the dancer Daniel Jogalsky, in 1947. In 1949, the couple moved to New York, where they lived in Greenwich Village, and associated with other artists and dancers in the thriving bohemian scene there during the 1950s and '60s. They moved to Brooklyn in 1979, where they were interviewed by the Village Voice in 1999.

References:

Schlesinger, Toni. "Two-Story Circa 1800 Wooden House." Village Voice. 30 November 1999. Online at http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-11-30/nyc-life/two-story-circa-1800-wooden-house&page=1 (11 January 2010).