RICHARD DIEBENKORN  (1922-1993)

Richard Diebenkorn was an American printmaker and painter. His works are associated with the abstract expressionism.

Richard Clifford Diebenkorn Jr. (1922 in Portland, Oregon – 1993 in Berkeley, California)

The American painter Richard Diebenkorn studied at Stanford University from 1940, where he was influenced by Edward Hopper’s ultra-realism. In the following 10 years the artist lived in different places like New York, Woodstock, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Urbana, Illinois, Berkeley. During these years, works were created that were close to abstract expressionism – he first came into contact with them in New York. From then on, his works were inspired by Clyfford Still, Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning. Over time, the artist Diebenkorn became known as the leading Abstract Expressionist of America’s West Coast.

Between 1955 and 1966 in Berkeley, California, Diebenkorn developed his painting style back to figurative painting – it was the time of the “Renaissance of figurative painting”, which also went down in art history as the “Bay Area Figurative Movement”. The works of Henri Matisse had the greatest influence on Diebenkorn’s paintings. In 1965 he traveled to the former Soviet Union to study his works

In the years that followed, Diebenkorn stuck to abstract painting, which he gave his signature with a very personal, geometric style. His well-known paintings, the “Ocean Park” series were created. Since 1967 he has made over 140 paintings: aerial photographs that correspond to window views like the one from his studio in Santa Monica, California.

Teaching activities of Richard Diebenkorn

Diebenkorn taught at the University of California, Los Angeles. He became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1967 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1979. In 1982 he became an elected member of the National Academy of Design.

Literature about Richard Diebenkorn

Jane Livingston: The Art of Richard Diebenkorn. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1997

Richard Diebenkorn in museums

The artist is represented with several works in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

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