Richard Diebenkorn: A Retrospective

The definitive monograph on a beloved California painter—reissued in a more accessible trim size and price, bringing his work to a wider audience.

Enter the brilliant world of one of the most important and influential American artists of the postwar era. This finely crafted reissue brings Diebenkorn’s acclaimed 2019 monograph to a more general readership, while preserving the elegant design, multiple paper stocks, and visual richness of the original volume.

Featuring more than 350 works, this retrospective follows five decades of Diebenkorn’s evolving practice—from the atmospheric abstractions of his early years to the radiant Berkeley and Ocean Park series that capture the light, color, and expansive coastal horizons of California. An artist of uncommon range, Diebenkorn absorbed and transformed many layers of influence—from Henri Matisse and Piet Mondrian to Edward Hopper and the New York School—in developing a visual language unmistakably his own. The portrait that emerges is of an artist moving with assurance between abstraction and figuration, producing paintings, prints, and drawings that are rigorous, exploratory, and profoundly humane.

Essays and reflections by leading art historians, fellow artists, close friends, and family complement a rich array of images. These diverse texts punctuate and reinforce the timeline of the artist’s life and development, offering both scholarly and deeply personal perspectives on his artistic process and work.

Sasha Nicholas, PhD, is an independent curator and art historian specializing in American art. Mary Clare McKinley, PhD, is head of curatorial affairs at the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation.