Richard Diebenkorn: Color(ful) 1957–1982: 3rd Floor Gallery

Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present Richard Diebenkorn: Color(ful) 1957 – 1982, an exhibition of works by the distinguished American painter and printmaker Richard Diebenkorn. Since 1999, Van Doren Waxter has exhibited Diebenkorn’s works, starting with the first show in February 1999 dedicated to paintings from the Ocean Park series. Over the ensuing 25 years, the gallery has mounted 17 solo shows exploring every aspect of Diebekorn’s broad creative output. This exhibition showcases gem-like portraits, still lifes, and abstraction spanning 25 years.

 

Richard Diebenkorn was born in Portland, Oregon in 1922. He attended Stanford University from 1940 to 1943 and was awarded his Bachelor of Arts in 1949. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley in 1943 and attended the California School of Fine Arts in 1946. He received his Master of Arts from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque in 1951.

Diebenkorn's earliest abstractions were made while the artist lived in Sausalito, California (1946–1949), Albuquerque (1950–1952), and Urbana, Illinois (1952–1953). In 1953 he moved to Berkeley, continuing his work in abstraction and producing over 66 paintings in two years. The year 1955 marks the beginning of an 11-year period when the artist worked from direct observation, making figurative works from the model, along with still lifes, landscapes, and interiors. From 1966 to 1988 he lived in Santa Monica, taught at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1966 to 1973, and began his epic Ocean Park cycle in 1967. He moved to Healdsburg, California in 1988 where he worked exclusively on works on paper until his death in 1993.