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Diebenkorn created many series of abstract works based upon different places where he lived, the best known of which is the large and bright Ocean Park paintings. Inspired by Henri Matisse’s use of large fields of color, these works are also a response to the distinctive light quality and colorful architecture of Los Angeles. Diebenkorn’s painting style, with its visible brush strokes, drips, and layering of colors, is related to Abstract Expressionism. However, Diebenkorn’s work retains hints of representation, using irregular geometric shapes and lines to reference the urban landscape.

 

(California Dreamin’ Edition)

In 1966, artist Richard Diebenkorn moved to Los Angeles to teach at UCLA and made the Santa Monica beachfront neighborhood of Ocean Park his home. The following year, Diebenkorn abandoned figurative work for abstraction and set to work on his best-known series of paintings. Inspired by and named for Ocean Park, the paintings respond to the distinctive light and colorful architecture of this Southern California locale. Stylistically, Diebenkorn acknowledged the influence of Henri Matisse’s use of large fields of color. The visible brush strokes, drips, and layering of color relate to Abstract Expressionism. However, Diebenkorn maintains elements of representation, using irregular geometric shapes and lines to refer to the unique urban landscape of Los Angeles.


Diebenkorn accepted a professorshop at UCLA and moved his studio to the Ocean Park section of Los Angeles south of Santa Monica. The move marked the beginning of the Ocean Park series and a return to a more abstract style based this time on the artist's urban environment. ...the Ocean Park series concerns itself more withe the angular and geometric configuration of the cityscape.

Source: DMAC Bulletin, November - December 1975


Exhibition History"California Dreamin': Some Sun, Some Fun, and a Couple of Puns", Des Moines Art Center Downtown, January 17 - April 22, 2005

"Commitment, Community and Controversy: The Des Moines Art Center Collections," Des Moines Art Center, Jan. 24 - May 10, 1998

"Richard Diebenkorn Retrospective," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Sept. 27 - Jan. 11, 1998

"The Abstract Tradition in American Art," Des Moines Art Center, Dec. 7, 1991 - Feb. 23, 1992

Extended Loan, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, Oct. 7, 1983 - Nov. 7, 1984

"Current Concerns, Part One," curated by Walter Hopps, Los Angeles Institute of Contempory Art, Jan. 13 - Feb. 7, 1975
Published ReferencesDMAC BULLETIN, Nov./Dec. 1975, cover ill.

Richard T. Gill, ECONOMICS AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST, 5th edition, Bristlecone Books, Mayfield Publishing Company, 1991, color cover ill.

Gerald Nordland, RICHARD DIEBENKORN, Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 1978, p.178

SEE MAGAZINE, A VISUAL SPECTRUM OF THE ARTS, Nov./Dec. 1977, color ill. p.6

THE NATHAN EMORY COFFIN COLLECTION, a portfolio of fifty selections from the collection, published by the Des Moines Art Center to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Nathan Emory Coffin, 1981, color ill.

FULL COLOR POSTER, Museum Editions West, 1991

Jane Livingston, John Elderfield & Ruth Fine, THE ART OF RICHARD DIEBENKORN, (exhibition catalogue), Whitney Museum of American Art, N. Y., in association with University of California Press, 1997, color ill. fig.165, p.216

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. pp.60 & 61, color ill. pl. VI, p.102

Nancy Friedman, CALIFORNIA: ART OF THE STATE, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., N. Y., 1998, color ill. p.101 (reproduced upside-down)

AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. & color detail p.98, color ill. p.99

Walter Hopps, JOURNAL NO. 4, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art (in conjunction with the exhibition "Current Concerns, Part One,"), Feb. 1975, pp.54 - 65, ill. p.57

Mark Stevens, "Tangled Up in Blue," NEW YORK, v.30, no.40, Oct. 20, 1997, pp.73 & 74, color ill. p.73
DimensionsFrame: 93 1/2 × 81 3/4 × 2 1/4 in. (237.5 × 207.6 × 5.7 cm)
Canvas (/image): 92 7/8 × 81 1/4 in. (235.9 × 206.4 cm)
Accession Number 1975.21
Classificationspainting
SignedR D 74 (l,l oil paint)
ProvenanceArtist; (Marlborough Gallery Inc., New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from previous, 1975]
Ocean Park #70
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
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