Richard Diebenkorn - Softcover

Richard Diebenkorn

4.54

52 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907533850 ISBN 13: 9781907533853

Publisher: Royal Academy of Arts, 2015

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Beloved artist Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993) is best known for paintings that powerfully evoke the California coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles. A West Coast native, Diebenkorn captured the light and color of the land and sea in a way that resonates with anyone who has spent time there. This volume contains a biographical introduction by Sarah C. Bancroft, an essay on Diebenkorn’s influences by Steven Nash, and an essay on Diebenkorn’s works on paper by Edith Devaney. Together these bring the artist’s rich, four-decade-long career into focus. The book covers Diebenkorn’s three distinct periods, which saw him gain recognition as a leading Abstract Expressionist in the early 1950s, then turn to figurative painting, before embarking on a highly successful period of abstract paintings and drawings— the Ocean Park Series. It is the perfect introduction to the work of this seminal California artist.

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Review:

Richard Diebenkorn is an expanded edition of Gerald Nordland's authoritative study of the painter, first published in 1987 and now reissued by Rizzoli, a leading publisher of fine-art books. Diebenkorn, who died in 1993, long ago entered the pantheon of great modernist artists. He was an early abstract expressionist, then went through a less successful stage of figural painting. Abruptly changing direction in the late 1960s, he rediscovered abstraction in an extraordinary series of grandly conceived paintings titled "Ocean Park," produced over a span of nearly 20 years. With strong vertical and diagonal constructions serving as structure for large areas of fresh, lyrical color, the elegant juxtapositions and satisfying geometry of "Ocean Park" make it his masterpiece; almost half this oversize book is devoted to the series. Nordland's descriptions and analyses of the paintings, based on 40 years' study of Diebenkorn's life and work, guide the reader to a deeper understanding of the painter's intentions and achievements. The text is clear, straightforward, and largely convincing, though there is surprisingly little comparative material by other artists. Graceful, understated design that complements the paintings, and extremely sensitive color reproduction, make the book itself aesthetically satisfying and a pleasure to look at. This new edition of Richard Diebenkorn maintains the book's status as the definitive study of one of America's most influential 20th-century artists. --John Stevenson

From the Back Cover:

Richard Diebenkorn, who died in 1993, is generally acknowledged as one of the most influential American artists of the twentieth century. The luminous abstractions of his later career and the innovative figurative works of his middle years firmly established him as a master in the high tradition of modernism. The artist continuously explored his personal vision of the intricate interplay between the formal and the sensual. This classic treatment of his career, updated and augmented to assess the artist's print works, his final years, and his legacy, is the definitive source for scholars and art lovers who want an authoritative take on one of America's favorite modern artists. This revised and updated version of the only true monograph on the artist includes a thorough revision of the existing text and an additional thirty-two pages. The updated section follows Diebenkorn's career from the mid-1980s until his death, focusing particularly on his adventurous late works on paper.

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