I have always enjoyed the “Ocean Park” series of abstract
paintings by Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993). These paintings were done when Diebenkorn
moved to Los Angeles and comprise his signature style. These large canvasses
evoke the light and landscape of southern California.
Ocean Park No. 54, 1972 oil on canvas.
While in San Francisco last month I had an opportunity to
visit an exhibition of Diebenkorn’s early work, specifically the pieces created
from 1953-1966 when he lived in Berkeley. The exhibition is at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and is very
comprehensive and enlightening.
Berkeley No. 13, 1954, oil on canvas.
Berkeley No. 13, 1954, oil on canvas.
The earliest works in the exhibition are indeed abstract,
graffiti like ink drawings, influenced by the abstract expressionists, specifically
de Kooning. As time passes Diebenkorn’s work, much praised by the art community
for its energetic, abstract qualities, becomes more figurative.
Untitled (Berkeley), 1954, ink on paper.
In 1955 he created “Chabot Valley” his first representational landscape. His shift to figurative work shocked the art world. In 1957 Diebenkorn wrote, “Temperamentally perhaps I had always been a landscape painter.” He further commented, “Abstract literally means to draw from or separate. In this sense every artist is abstract… a realistic or non-objective approach makes no difference. The result is what counts.”
Untitled (Berkeley), 1954, ink on paper.
In 1955 he created “Chabot Valley” his first representational landscape. His shift to figurative work shocked the art world. In 1957 Diebenkorn wrote, “Temperamentally perhaps I had always been a landscape painter.” He further commented, “Abstract literally means to draw from or separate. In this sense every artist is abstract… a realistic or non-objective approach makes no difference. The result is what counts.”
Throughout these years Diebenkorn returns to drawing from
the figure. His 1958 piece “Woman in Profile” uses energetic layers of impasto to describe a woman. Diebenkorn
paints the organic shapes of the figure and juxtaposes them to the landscape outside;
the grid pattern of the windows unites the two worlds.
Woman in Profile, 1958, oil on canvas.
Woman in Profile, 1958, oil on canvas.
Diebenkorn’s figure studies or “exercises in seeing” as he
describes them reveal his thought process and works to come. While visiting Leningrad in 1965 his works
take on a Matisse like quality using pattern and flat color. These works anticipate the “Ocean Park”
series.
Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad, 1965, oil on canvas.
Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad, 1965, oil on canvas.
Diebenkorn is a unique American artist. This exhibition of his early work enlightens and informs our undertsanding of his signature work. I highly recommend a visit to the de Young Museum for this
impressive exhibition.The exhibition
catalog, with essays by Emma Acker, Steven A. Nash and Timothy Anglin Burgard, is excellent.
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