Known for his gestural yet geometric depictions of American landscapes, Richard Diebenkorn blended Abstract Expressionism and figurative painting like no other artist before him.
Born in Portland, Oregon, but raised in San Francisco, California, Diebenkorn studied art history at Stanford University before enlisting in the Marines. Afterward, on the G.I. Bill, he enrolled at California School of Fine Arts (now San Francisco Art Institute) in 1946, where he became an instructor a year later. In 1950, he pursued a master’s degree at the University of New Mexico.
He lived and worked for a period during the postwar years in New York City, where he met Mark Rothko and immersed himself in Robert Motherwell’s art. However, the perspective that Diebenkorn brought to his paintings and prints was firmly rooted in the West Coast. His canvases, even when he worked in an abstract style, evoked California’s sandy coastlines and varied topography — one of the attributes that set him apart from contemporaries such as Willem de Kooning and Philip Guston.
Diebenkorn is acclaimed for his representational paintings; he was a founding member of the Bay Area Figurative movement, along with David Park and Elmer Bischoff. But he is best known for his lyrical abstract work. He explored abstraction during the 1950s before switching to figuration — creating still lifes and working with live models — and then returned to abstraction, developing a distinctive style that was entirely his own.
When Diebenkorn moved to Southern California, he began to teach at UCLA and commenced work on what would become his enduring “Ocean Park” series, named for the Santa Monica suburb he called home as of 1966 and inspired by the view from his studio — in particular, the light on the landscape outside the windows as framed by the windows themselves. The influence of Henri Matisse loomed large too. Diebenkorn had been an admirer of Matisse’s work since his days in the military, and in 1964, a trip to see the French painter’s work at the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad proved monumental for him.
The “Ocean Park” series, created over the span of two decades, comprised more than 140 large paintings with gentle, shimmering compositions of color arranged in geometric harmony, with the texture of Diebenkorn’s constant reworking of the paint coming through.
“All paintings start out of a mood, out of a relationship with things or people, out of a complete visual impression,” Diebenkorn once said. Today, his work can be found in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Phillips Collection, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and more.
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Richard Diebenkorn Poindexter Gallery Ocean Park-era Autographed, Signed Letter
By Richard Diebenkorn
Located in New York, NY
Poindexter Gallery Era Autographed Letter, postmarked May 12, 1968 Ink on postmarked correspondence card Postmarked Santa Monica, California, May 12, 1968. This letter was sent to Da...
Ink, Postcard
Poems of W.B. Yeats.
By Richard Diebenkorn
Located in New York, NY
DIEBENKORN, Richard. Poems of W.B. Yeats. Selected and introduced by Helen Vendler. xxv, [3], 171, [2] pp. 4to, 260 x 205 mm, bound in half red morocco over green cloth, in a gre...
Paper
Giardino di Rose
Located in Mokena, IL
Giardino di Rose, 2022 Ink on Toned Paper with Frame, 12.25 x 15.25 inches Transporting the viewer to Florence’s sun-lit rose garden, Justas Varpucanskis...
Ink, Handmade Paper
Ritratto di Noemi
Located in Mokena, IL
Ritratto di Noemi, 2019 Graphite and White Chalk on Toned Paper, 7 x 10 inches “Ritratto di Noemi”, a captivating portrait, by artist Justas Varp...
Chalk, Handmade Paper, Graphite
$600
H 16 in W 13 in
Arizona Centennial First Day Issue Stamps and Envelope, autographed by Ed Mell
By Ed Mell
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Ed Mell 1942-2024 Original signatures on stamps and envelope. Custom presentation frame. Arizona Centennial Commemorative Stamp, Arizona First Day of Issue by Ed Mell, 1942-2024. C...
Postcard
$2,405
H 22.84 in W 31.5 in D 0.79 in
1970s Modern Antonietta Raphaël Signed Etching
By Antonietta Raphaël
Located in Roma, IT
Colour etching “Prova d’autore” signed localised and dated ‘Raphael Roma “70”. It depicts in his unmistakable style a couple pictured in an intimate but discreet pose. Antonietta Ra...
Paper, Lithograph
$622Sale Price|20% Off
H 2.68 in W 2.56 in D 0.04 in
Contemporary Hiroshi Yasukawa Signed Abstract Artwork
By Hiroshi Yasukawa
Located in Roma, IT
Modern Hiroshi Yasukawa Signed Abstract Painting Important abstract minimalist work representing a circle crossed by a conceptual monochrome stripe typical of the great Japanese ar...
Paper, Oil
Antique Manuscript Map - Forest of Andely
Located in Houston, TX
Charming hand drawn ink and watercolor map of the Forest of Andely, in the Normandy area, France, circa 1890. Original artwork on paper displayed on...
Ink, Paper, Watercolor
The philosophy of Andy Warhol
By Andy Warhol
Located in Jerusalem, IL
A book by Andy Warhol. Signed and sketched by the artist on the first page of the book. Signed on the bottom of the first page. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Aga...
Paper, Ink, Permanent Marker
Signed Autograph Postcard
By Renato Guttuso
Located in Roma, IT
Autograph postcard signed by Renato Guttuso to the Countess Pecci-Blunt. On the front, there is a reproduction of a detail of the Leonardo's "Cenaco...
Postcard
English Modern Geometric Collage Purple, Gold, and Beige
Located in Houston, TX
Abstract modern collage of long geometric shapes in blue, brown, and beige, by artist Spe, 2000's . Signed. Displayed in a white mat with a gold border and fits a standard-size frame...
Paper
$2,285
H 6.89 in W 8.94 in
Southern Landscape, Ships, Old Master Drawing, 19th Century, by Von Stengel
Located in Greven, DE
Southern Landscape with View of a Castle and Ships passing by Pen and brush in brown and black over pencil, brown and grey wash, 17,5 x 22,7cm Plain black moulding with golden pearl ...
Paper, Gouache
$75,000
H 50 in W 40 in
Map of Palestine or Judea, Illustrating the History of the New Testament
By Rev. Nathan B. Rogers
Located in New York, NY
Pen and ink on paper, laid down on canvas, mounted to wooden scroll bars Signed and dated lower right: “Drawn by N. B. Rogers August. 1843” Inscribed with an ownership inscription on the verso: Rev. E. D. Daniels, Palmer, Mass. Provenance: Rev. Eugene Davidson Daniels, Palmer, Massachusetts, 1871 This extraordinary manuscript map is a rare survivor of the devotional and educational culture of New England in the first half of the nineteenth century. Although at first glance resembling a large-scale engraving or printed publication, this precisely rendered wall map was entirely drawn by hand, the product of meticulous research by a minister working in isolation in rural Maine. The map shows New Testament era cities, towns, tribal areas, and political borders as well as physical features such as rivers, lakes, mountains, and hills (indicated by half-tone cross-hatching). On to this geographically accurate rendering of the Holy Land, Rogers has located and inscribed significant locales mentioned in the Gospels and has annotated these places with relevant citations from the Bible. He further records these by plotting the travels of Jesus on what resemble a series of trails across the Holy Land. Each is distinguished by a different pattern of dots and dashes – correlated to an explanatory table at the lower right. From this we know that these lines document the “Flight into Egypt and return,” “Travels of Christ from Nazareth to Jerusalem and return,” “Travels from the commencement of his Ministry to the first Passover,” “Travels from the first and the second Passover,” “Travels from Jerusalem to Galilee after the 2nd Passover,” and “Travels from the third Passover to the Crucifixion.” An inset map of “Jerusalem...
Canvas, Paper, Ink, Pen
Kate Moss (Crude Oils), Print on Card, 2005
By Banksy
Located in Dubai, Dubai
Kate Moss (Crude Oils), Print on Card, 2005 Rare promotional card from Banksy's now infamous 2005 Crude Oils exhibition (14th - 24th October 2005). The piece features an image of Ka...
Postcard
Tri-Color Spade
By Richard Diebenkorn
Located in New York, NY
Sugar-life Aquatint and Etching in Colors on Rives Paper Publisher: Crownpoint Press
Paper, Etching, Aquatint