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
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In 1966, artist Richard Diebenkorn moved to
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
Canvas (/image): 92 7/8 × 81 1/4 in. (235.9 × 206.4 cm)