Skip to main content

Richard Diebenkorn More Art

American, 1922-1993

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.

Find authentic Richard Diebenkorn art on 1stDibs.

to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
23
335
231
205
121
1
Artist: Richard Diebenkorn
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...
Category

1990s Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper

Related Items
Royal Academy Exhibition Poster By David Hockney
By David Hockney
Located in London, GB
Royal Academy Exhibition Poster By David Hockney David Hockney is a British painter, draftsman, and photographer celebrated for his vibrant depictions of California swimming pools...
Category

2010s Contemporary Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph, Offset

Still life, 29x21 cm, watercolour, paper
Located in Yerevan, AM
Still life, 29x21 cm, watercolour, paper
Category

2010s Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Still life, 29x21 cm, watercolour, paper
$195 Sale Price
25% Off
H 11.42 in W 8.27 in
Royal Academy Exhibition Poster By David Hockney
By David Hockney
Located in London, GB
Royal Academy Exhibition Poster By David Hockney David Hockney is a British painter, draftsman, and photographer celebrated for his vibrant depictions of California swimming pools...
Category

2010s Contemporary Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph, Offset

Royal Academy Exhibition Poster By David Hockney
By David Hockney
Located in London, GB
Royal Academy Exhibition Poster By David Hockney David Hockney is a British painter, draftsman, and photographer celebrated for his vibrant depictions of California swimming pools ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph, Offset

Bad date, 59x42cm, tempera/paper
Located in Yerevan, AM
Bad date, 59x42cm, tempera/paper
Category

2010s Pop Art Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Tempera, Gel Pen

Bad date, 59x42cm, tempera/paper
Bad date, 59x42cm, tempera/paper
$350 Sale Price
30% Off
H 23.23 in W 16.54 in
"Red sofa ", paper/oil, 50x60 cm.
Located in Yerevan, AM
"Red sofa", paper/oil, 50x60 cm.
Category

2010s Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Oil

"Red sofa ", paper/oil, 50x60 cm.
"Red sofa ", paper/oil, 50x60 cm.
$660 Sale Price
40% Off
H 19.69 in W 23.63 in
"Red sofa ", paper/oil, 70x50 cm.
Located in Yerevan, AM
"Red sofa", paper/oil, 70x50 cm.
Category

2010s Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Oil

"Red sofa ", paper/oil, 70x50 cm.
$660 Sale Price
40% Off
H 19.69 in W 27.56 in
Royal Academy Exhibition Poster By David Hockney
By David Hockney
Located in London, GB
Royal Academy Exhibition Poster By David Hockney David Hockney is a British painter, draftsman, and photographer celebrated for his vibrant depictions of California swimming pools...
Category

2010s Contemporary Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph, Offset

Royal Academy Exhibition Poster (4) By David Hockney
By David Hockney
Located in London, GB
Royal Academy Exhibition Poster (4) By David Hockney David Hockney is a British painter, draftsman, and photographer celebrated for his vibrant depictions of California swimming po...
Category

2010s Contemporary Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph, Offset

"Before bedtime", paper/oil, 70x50 cm.
Located in Yerevan, AM
"Before bedtime", paper/oil, 70x50 cm.
Category

2010s Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Oil

"Before bedtime", paper/oil, 70x50 cm.
"Before bedtime", paper/oil, 70x50 cm.
$660 Sale Price
40% Off
H 19.69 in W 27.56 in
Untitled , 29x21 cm, watercolour, paper
Located in Yerevan, AM
Untitled , 29x21 cm, watercolour, paper
Category

2010s Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Untitled , 29x21 cm, watercolour, paper
$195 Sale Price
25% Off
H 11.42 in W 8.27 in
Letter from Marcello Mascherini to Nesto Jacometti - 1956
Located in Roma, IT
L.T.S addressed to the collector Nesto Jacometti, on headed paper "Marcello Mascherini - Sculptor - Trieste - Via Fabio Severo 20". Trieste, 2 May ...
Category

1950s Contemporary Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Ink

Previously Available Items
Tri-Color Spade
By Richard Diebenkorn
Located in New York, NY
Sugar-life Aquatint and Etching in Colors on Rives Paper Publisher: Crownpoint Press
Category

1980s Richard Diebenkorn More Art

Materials

Paper, Etching, Aquatint

Richard Diebenkorn more art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Richard Diebenkorn more art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Richard Diebenkorn in paper and more. Not every interior allows for large Richard Diebenkorn more art, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Alex Ross, George Rodrigue, and Keith Haring. Richard Diebenkorn more art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,850 and tops out at $3,850, while the average work can sell for $3,850.

Recently Viewed

View All