In the 1920s Karfiol’s art became more classical as he focused on standing nudes, odalisques, and females dressed in loose gowns of indefinite period. Along with his classicism went a modernist interest in color and form, which was inspired in part by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). The woman in Seated Figure is fully modeled, as would be expected of an academically trained artist such as Karfiol, but her body has been simplified into solid geometric forms. She is placed in the center of the composition, sitting on a stool. The stool is actually too small and low to enable the woman, who is quite massive, to sit comfortably. She appears to be comfortable, however, because her pose gives the form of a pyramid, producing an effect of stability. She appears almost stonelike due to the monochromatic beige and white palette. Only by subtly varying the tones of pink, yellow, and brown for the flesh did Karfiol suggest that the figure was alive.
When Seated Figure was exhibited in 1925-26 at the First Pan-American Exhibition of Oil Paintings in Los Angeles, where it was awarded an honorable mention, it hung next to Parthenope by JOHN CARROLL (LACMA; q.v). The two paintings reflect the interest in classicism prevalent during the decade among artists who wished to synthesize figure painting and modernist abstract concerns. Karfiol’s manipulation of the formal elements of his painting appears less extreme than does Carroll’s. The art critic Antony Anderson noted that Seated Figure followed "the Hellenic ideal in pose, arrangement of drapery, and in feeling."
