On the process of painting, American painter Richard Diebenkorn once wrote, "I want painting to be difficult to do. The more obstacles, obstructions, problems ... the better." In part, he meant that the freest artistic expression was often the result of some sort of restraint. Much like Shakespeare writing within the rigorous poetic form of the sonnet, Diebenkorn found his format in the vertical, rectangular, human-size canvases that he used to paint his famed Ocean Park series, which occupied a large portion of his magnificent career and included many figurative works. This sequence consists of more than 100 paintings created primarily over the course of the 1970s. There is a tranquil, mystical quality to his works: geometric lines define fields of color evoking the tones, landscape, atmosphere, and quality of light in Ocean Park. His paintings thus hover on the boundary between abstraction and landscape.

This paperback exhibition catalog of the retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City contains a beautifully produced plate section, arranged chronologically, that spans nearly the entire second half of the 20th century. A special highlight are Diebenkorn's notes to himself on beginning a painting.


From Library Journal
Inspired by the openness and light of the California landscape, the American painter Diebenkorn (1922-93) developed a unique modernist style, characterized by geometric forms, a bright palette, and thick brushwork. Once his career was established, he made a sudden shift to representational art. Still later, the figures disappeared, and he resumed the abstract mode marked by a series of paintings entitled "Ocean Park." This comprehensive catalog, which accompanies the first retrospective exhibition of Diebenkorn's works since his death, is intended to enhance understanding of his devotion to modernism and the influences upon his accomplishments. Livingston, who curated the exhibition, and two other notable art scholars (all acquaintances of the artist) provide lengthy essays complementing about 200 color plates. Recommended for all libraries that collect in American modern art.?Joan Levin, MLS, ChicagoCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


About the Author
Jane Livingston is an independent author and curator living in Rappahannock County, Virginia. John Elderfield is Chief Curator-at-Large at The Museum of Modern Art. Ruth Fine is Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Recognized as a major figure in post-war American painting, Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) was an artist strongly identified with California. He quietly constructed a place for himself in the history of 20th-century art with his singular vision and intense commitment to the idea and practice of both figuration and abstraction. In this book, published in conjunction with the Whitney Museum's 1997 Diebenkorn retrospective exhibition, the most comprehensive survey of his work ever held, Diebenkorn emerges as an artist who restored to late modernism the sense of the sublime that seemed to fade with each successive decade after World War II.

In the '40s and early '50s, he forged an impressive abstract vocabulary -- and then suddenly abandoned it in 1955 for a representational mode that encompassed still lifes, landscapes, figures, and interiors. Along with painters David Park and Elmer Bischoff, he established what has come to be known as the Bay Area Figurative School. Twelve years later, in 1967, Diebenkorn moved back into abstraction, embarking on the renowned Ocean Park series of paintings and drawings that he continued to develop until the end of his life.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Inspired by the openness and light of the California landscape, the American painter Diebenkorn (1922-93) developed a unique modernist style, characterized by geometric forms, a bright palette, and thick brushwork. Once his career was established, he made a sudden shift to representational art. Still later, the figures disappeared, and he resumed the abstract mode marked by a series of paintings entitled 'Ocean Park.' This comprehensive catalog. . . is intended to enhance understanding of his devotion to modernism and the influences upon his accomplishments. Livingston, who curated the Whitney's 1997 exhibition, and two other notable art scholars (all acquaintances of the artist) provide lengthy essays complementing about 200 color plates. -- Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago

Library Journal