Mary Strickland II

Robert L. Cormack

Robert Cormack's work often deals with memories of his early life in Cuthbert, Georgia, where he lived until transferring from the University of Georgia to Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles, California, in the late 1950s. Additionally, his own experience in the U.S. Navy and as a blue collar worker often influences his subject matter, his style echoing that of the WPA era muralists and graphic artists in which the everyday man and woman, and the significance of everyday labor, are upheld as worthy subjects. Cormack utilizes a simplified composition that highlights saturated colors and bold shapes to capture a moment.

In "Mary Strickland II" he portrays a family friend, depicting her as a fashionable woman in bold cherry, black, and white. The textures of her blouse and hair resemble the patterns of African batik and nearly jump from the sheet with the tension provided by contrast, and the composition is nearly sculptural in its flat, Cubist style.