Richard Diebenkorn: Early Color Abstractions 1949-1955

RICHARD DIEBENKORN E A R L Y C O L O R A B S T R A C T I O N S , 1 9 4 9 –1 9 5 5

RICHARD DIEBENKORN EARLY COLOR ABSTRACTIONS, 1949–1955

AWK WA RD BE AU T Y M A R K L A V AT E L L I

Almost an oxymoron, this essay’s title speaks to the heart of Richard Diebenkorn’s exploratory process. The works on paper in this exhibition reveal his proclivities: loosely-defined blocky shapes, quirky meandering lines, hints of the Western landscape, unfussy overpainting, and sudden deviations that seem surprising yet almost predictable. During the time when they were created, from around 1949 to 1955, Diebenkorn internalized Abstract Expressionist methods and, free from the influences of his former teachers and colleagues in San Francisco, found his own voice.

These modest-sized works exemplify Diebenkorn’s approach: “. . . the unerring combination of painterly sophistication with awkward, unrefined areas that surprise, attract, and fascinate the eye.”1 What at first might appear to be haphazardly applied shapes or unruly lines have been, in fact, carefully crafted to create dynamic compositions of astonishing variety.

For example, in the lower third of Untitled, c. 1952–53 (CR no. 1179, p. 28), two red block-like shapes meet up, leaving a characteristic fissure of negative space between them. Below, the red gouache merges seductively with green and black. Above, the red, here diluted, sprouts fungus-like growths that are in turn surrounded by areas of ocher and pale green. Unusual but beautiful. And then, on the right, a quickly brushed explosion of black appears and then curves upward to the left, like unwelcome black smoke. The beauty becomes awkward.

California artist Wayne Thiebaud, in a 1986 interview with longtime Diebenkorn scholar Gerald Nordland, articulated this effect: “Dick discussed ‘crudities’ with me. This is something like ‘ineptitudes’ or Richard Diebenkorn in his Berkeley, California, studio, 1956

‘awkwardnesses,’ which are retained in one’s work in order to avoid the slick, the ingratiating.

It is a redirection to avoid getting easy . . . Diebenkorn retains the stumbling . . . it becomes crucial to the character of the work.” 2 Modifying visual beauty in this way is the opposite of being perverse.

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Richard Diebenkorn Albuquerque #20, 1952 Oil on canvas 54 1⁄ 2 3 57 inches (138.4 3 144.8 cm) Collection Byron R. Meyer CR no. 1162

This constant determination to resist being too comfortable, to avoid formulas, stimulated continued artistic progress, resulting ultimately in artistic distinction and fame.

Unlike the work of many artists, Diebenkorn’s works on paper don’t function as studies or inspirations for oil paintings on canvas, but are a parallel activity. For him, they provided insight into painting ideas and could be accomplished quickly, compared to the oil paintings that might require weeks or even months to complete.

One of the earlier works in the show is from 1949, created when he was living in Sausalito (CR no. 627, p. 29).

Dominated by gray, red, red-gray, and almost black, it displays crisp edges, especially in the upper right, which recall prior paintings. Only the curving lines in the bottom center presage the impending linear explorations of the artist’s Albuquerque period. Diebenkorn enrolled at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 1950 to take advantage of the G.I. Bill and earned a master’s degree in 1951. He convinced the university to let him stay on for another year, after which he took a teaching position at the University of Illinois in Urbana from 1952 to 1953. Then he moved to Berkeley, where he continued making abstractions until 1955, when he shocked the art world by returning to figurative subject matter.

Several of the Sausalito works emphasize contrasts of black and white or dark brown and pale gray, as in Untitled, c. 1950–53 (CR no. 792, p. 10). And some later ones, like Untitled, 1952, and Untitled, c. 1952 (CR nos. 1150 and 1156, pp. 22 and 15), parallel the mostly black and white oil paintings Diebenkorn was making at UNM (e.g. Albuquerque #20, 1952, coll. Byron R. Myer, illus.). In a 1978 interview with the author, Diebenkorn said, 4

Willem de Kooning Zurich, 1947 Oil and enamel on paper mounted on fiberboard 36 3 24 1 ⁄ 8 inches (91.4 3 61.3 cm) Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution

“I think the black and white came from the experience mainly in San Francisco. There was this idea that color was ingratiating. . . . You could get directly to the art with black and white.”3 Seeing reproductions of paintings by de Kooning in a 1948 issue of the Partisan Review, such as Zurich (illus.), may have reinforced this idea (see Untitled, c. 1952, CR no. 1156, p. 15). It also validated the use of calligraphic lines, most often in ink, that permeate many drawings.

Lines echo and frequently surround colored shapes, but also break free and form a counterpoint, as in three untitled works from 1953, c. 1949–55, and c. 1950–52 (CR nos. 1209, 600, and 690 [pp. 11, 13, and 27]).

In the center of Zurich, de Kooning created a thin, curving shape by intentionally not covering up the layer underneath that has traces of ocher. Diebenkorn increasingly exploited this same technique from 1949 onward.

The interplay of overpainting (positive shapes) with what is underneath (negative shapes) animates both the works on paper and the oils.

Diebenkorn’s move to New Mexico opened the door to influences from the landscape. He said, “. . . in Albuquerque in a sense I was on my own. I’d left all my influences in San Francisco. I left my mentors. I think I was saying to myself in Albuquerque that, OK, I’m going to damn well paint what I want, I’m not going to do this qualifying of my intuitive responses. I’m going to lay it out and that’s the way it is. So if grass green and sky blue and desert tan, if those associations come into the work, so they do, that’s part of my experience.”4 The tan desert color dominates Untitled, c. 1950–52 (CR no. 689, p. 26), and #22 (Albuquerque), 1951 (Private collection, illus. p. 6), for example, reaffirms the influence of the high desert landscape.

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Richard Diebenkorn #22 (Albuquerque), 1951 Oil on canvas 38 1⁄ 2 3 56 1⁄ 4 inches (97.8 3 142.9 cm) Private collection CR no. 1106

For the first year in Albuquerque, Diebenkorn, his wife, Phyllis, and their two children, Gretchen and Christopher, lived near the Rio Grande. Diebenkorn acknowledged the influence of seeing horses and cows in adjacent fields, and described “mesas right across the way where the silhouette was enormously, very important.” 5 Among the works in this show, shapes alluding to livestock don’t stand out, but the repeated horizontals in the strong black and white Untitled, c. 1952 (CR no. 1156, p. 15) verify the stimulus of Albuquerque’s West Mesa.

In the summer of 1951 Diebenkorn took an airplane trip to San Francisco and was inspired by the aerial views of the Western landscape. He said the plane flew low over varying terrains and it “blew his mind.“ He didn’t consciously attempt to recreate aerial views, but the experience “went into the mill” and came out strong.6 The flatness of the aerial view is consistent with avoiding the representation of depth, a stylistic “given” at the California School of Fine Arts. The edge-aligned forms and the emphasis on using the corners of the rectangle pull the image taut, like the skin of a drum.

Diebenkorn’s works show a consistent vocabulary of forms, deployed in varied, original compositions. These include narrow shapes on the edges and corners of the supports, squared off or round-ended incursions into shapes, lines that sometimes move independently of color areas or that form outlines of shapes. Typically, Diebenkorn mixes large shapes and small shapes, tying them together with myriad lines.

The combination of nuanced color fields and irregular curving lines becomes more formalized in the later Ocean Park and Healdsburg drawings (e.g. Untitled, c. 1988–92, CR no. 4687, illus.), but the impetus originated in the early 1950’s.

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Richard Diebenkorn Untitled, c. 1988–92 Gouache, ink, and graphite on paper 15 3 14 inches (38.1 3 35.6 cm) CR no. 4687

When I interviewed Diebenkorn in 1978, he opined that there’s no way of knowing why an artist picks up a tube of a particular color at any given moment. He was clearly referencing himself in the studio. The thirty works on paper in the show confirm that assertion. They reveal a wide coloristic range, from potent contrasts to subtle tints of beiges and grays. Some have all three primaries (red, yellow, and blue) in small amounts (CR nos. 604 and 608, pp. 30 and 17), effectively realized because they are surrounded by low-intensity colors. Unusual color relationships, like the muddy yellow juxtaposed with various shades of red-violet, appear in Untitled, c. 1949 (CR no. 636, p. 20).

Diebenkorn’s early career achievement, seen in this selection, equals those of major Abstract Expressionist artists, who, as Richard Newlin explained, “attempted to interpret profound emotions by symbolic means, to reduce the observable world and painting itself to a primary experience.”7

1. Lavatelli, Nordland, Strong. Richard Diebenkorn in New Mexico. Harwood Museum of Art, University of New Mexico / Museum of New Mexico Press, 2007, p 32 2. Nordland, Gerald. Richard Diebenkorn. Rizzoli, 1987, p. 199 3. Lavatelli, Mark. Interview with Richard Diebenkorn, November, 1978.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Newlin, Richard, “The Ocean Park Drawings,” Richard Diebenkorn: Works on Paper. Houston Fine Art Press, 1987, p. 13

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UNTITLED, c. 1952 Gouache and graphite on paper, 11 3 8 1 â „ 2 inches (27.9 3 21.6 cm), CR no. 1148 9

UNTITLED, c. 1950–53 Gouache and charcoal on paper, 19 7⁄ 8 3 14 3 ⁄ 4 inches (50.5 3 37.5 cm), CR no. 792 10

UNTITLED, 1953 Watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper, 11 3 8 1 ⁄ 2 inches (27.9 3 21.6 cm), “RD 53” lower left, CR no. 1209 11

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Watercolor and ink on paper, 11 1 ⁄ 8 3 7 1 ⁄ 2 inches (28.3 3 19.1 cm), CR no. 603 12

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Gouache and graphite on paper, 11 1 ⁄ 2 3 10 inches (29.2 3 25.4 cm), CR no. 600 13

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Gouache and graphite on paper, 14 3 11 inches (35.6 3 27.9 cm), CR no. 599 14

UNTITLED, c. 1952 Gouache and ink on joined paper, 15 1 ⁄ 4 3 12 5 ⁄ 8 inches (38.7 3 32.1 cm), CR no. 1156 15

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Gouache and ink on paper, 11 3 8 1 ⁄ 2 inches (27.9 3 21.6 cm), CR no. 608 16

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UNTITLED, 1949 Gouache, ink, and graphite on paper, 16 3 ⁄ 4 3 13 3 ⁄ 4 inches (42.5 3 34.9 cm), “RD 49” upper left, CR no. 624 18

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Gouache and graphite on paper, 8 3 ⁄ 8 3 7 inches (21.3 3 17.8 cm), CR no. 605 19

UNTITLED, c. 1949 Gouache and graphite on paper, 19 7 ⁄ 8 3 14 3 ⁄ 4 inches (50.5 3 37.5 cm), CR no. 636 20

UNTITLED, c. 1949 Gouache on paper, 18 1 ⁄ 4 3 13 5 ⁄ 8 inches (46.4 3 34.6 cm), CR no. 633 21

UNTITLED, 1952 Gouache, charcoal, ink, and graphite on paper, 22 3 15 inches (55.9 3 38.1 cm) “RD 52” upper left, CR no. 1150

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UNTITLED, c. 1949 Gouache on paper, 19 5 ⁄ 8 3 13 7 ⁄ 8 inches (49.8 3 35.2 cm), CR no. 625 23

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Gouache and graphite on paper, 12 3 ⁄ 8 3 9 1 ⁄ 2 inches (31.4 3 24.1 cm), CR no. 607 24

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UNTITLED, c. 1950–52 Gouache and ink on paper, 14 3 17 inches (35.6 3 43.2 cm), CR no. 689 26

UNTITLED, c. 1950–52 Gouache and ink on paper, 14 3 17 inches (35.6 3 43.2 cm), CR no. 690 27

UNTITLED, c. 1952–53 Gouache on paper, 17 1 ⁄ 8 3 14 inches (43.5 3 35.6 cm), CR no. 1179 28

UNTITLED, 1949 Gouache and pasted paper on paper, 19 3 ⁄ 4 3 13 7 ⁄ 8 inches (50.2 3 35.2 cm), “RD 49” lower left, CR no. 627 29

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Watercolor and ink on paper, 9 3 12 inches (22.9 3 30.5 cm), CR no. 604 30

UNTITLED, c. 1952–53 Gouache on paper, 17 3 14 inches (43.2 3 35.6 cm), CR no. 1190 31

UNTITLED, c. 1950–53 Gouache and graphite on paper, 14 3 11 inches (35.6 3 27.9 cm), CR no. 790 32

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UNTITLED, c. 1950–53 Gouache on paper, 13 7 ⁄ 8 3 19 5 ⁄ 8 inches (35.2 3 49.8 cm), CR no. 791 34

UNTITLED, c. 1951–54 Gouache and ink on paper, 12 1 ⁄ 2 3 18 7 ⁄ 8 inches (31.8 3 47.9 cm), CR no. 698 35

UNTITLED, c. 1950–55 Gouache and ink on paper, 13 3 ⁄ 4 x 12 inches (34.9 x 30.5 cm), CR no. 915 36

UNTITLED, 1949 Gouache, ink, and graphite on cardboard, 22 3 15 inches (55.9 3 38.1 cm), “RD 49” upper right, CR no. 632 37

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UNTITLED, c. 1952–53 Watercolor and graphite on paper, 12 7 ⁄ 8 3 18 7 ⁄ 8 inches (32.7 3 47.9 cm), CR no. 1182 39

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Gouache and ink on paper, 11 3 8 1 ⁄ 2 inches (27.9 x 21.6 cm), CR no. 595 40

UNTITLED, c. 1949–55 Gouache and ink on paper, 8 1 ⁄ 2 3 11 inches (21.6 x 27.9 cm), CR on. 596 41

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UNTITLED, c. 1955 Gouache, crayon, graphite, and ink on joined paper, 12 1 ⁄ 2 3 15 1 ⁄ 4 inches (31.8 x 38.7 cm), “RD 55” lower right, CR no. 1467 43

We are pleased to present this exhibition of early abstract works on paper by Richard Diebenkorn. The works in this exhibition were made between 1949–55 while Diebenkorn was living in various locations including Sausalito, Albuquerque, Urbana and Berkeley. While several have been published, we are proud to exhibit these works for the first time.

We are indebted to the board and staff of the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation for their support and help in producing the exhibition and catalog. We are always grateful for the support of the Diebenkorn family. We thank Mark Lavatelli for his insightful essay.

We dedicate this exhibition to our dear friend, Phyllis Diebenkorn (1921–2015).

John Van Doren Dorsey Waxter

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RICHARD DIEBENKORN 1922–1993

Born in Portland, Oregon (1922). Family moved to San Francisco Bay Area (1924). Attended Stanford University (1940–43; BA, 1949). Studied at University of California, Berkeley (1943) while serving in the U. S. Marine Corps (1943–45). Attended California School of Fine Arts (1946). Lived in Sausalito, California and taught at California School of Fine Arts (1947–50). Studied at University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (MA, 1951). Moved back to the Bay Area and began the Berkeley series of abstract expressionist paintings (1953). Culminates his first abstract period while also drawing from the model and moving toward figurative painting (1955). Taught at San Francisco Art Institute (1959–63). Lived in Santa Monica and taught at University of California, Los Angeles (1966–73). Began the Ocean Park series (1967). Moved to Healdsburg, California (1988). Died in Berkeley, California (1993).

Major traveling retrospectives: Richard Diebenkorn, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; traveled to Fundación Juan March, Madrid; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt; Stadtische Galerie im Stadel, Frankfurt; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1991–93). The Art of Richard Diebenkorn, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; traveled to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1997– 98). Museum exhibitions include: The Drawings of Richard Diebenkorn, organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; traveled to San Francisco Museum of Art and The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (1988 –89). Clubs and Spades, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (2002). The Ocean Park Series, Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth; traveled to the Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2011–12). The Berkeley Years, 1953 –1966, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; traveled to the Palm Springs Art Museum (2013–14). Richard Diebenkorn, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2015). Richard Diebenkorn: The Sketchbooks Revealed, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University (2015–16).

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PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Stanford, CA Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA CU Art Museum, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA Fine Arts Collection, University of California, Davis, CA Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, CA Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, Stanford, CA Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Kansas City, MO Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, St. Louis, MO Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX Montana Historical Society, Helena, MT Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ Morgan Library and Museum, New York, NY Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, New York, NY

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National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ Raymond Jonson Gallery Collection, University Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM Robert Hull Fleming Museum of Art, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA Santa Cruz Island Foundation, Carpinteria, CA Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ University Art Museum, State University of New York at Albany, NY University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MI Washington Art Consortium, WA Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT CANADA Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto SOUTH KOREA Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul

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Published on the occasion of the exhibition Richard Diebenkorn: Early Color Abstractions, 19 4 9 –195 5 January 13 – March 5, 2016 Design by Doyle Partners Edited by Dorsey Waxter, Liz Sadeghi, Sophia Jackson and Nick Naber Essay © 2016 by Mark Lavatelli, MFA Artwork photography by Richard Grant and Carl Schmitz © 2016 The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation Additional photography © Rose Mandel Archives (RM-RD-44)/All Rights Reserved (p. 2); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, 1981, Photograph by Cathy Carver (p. 5).

We would like to thank the following people for their unwavering support in the production of this exhibition: Richard Grant, Gretchen Grant, Andrea Liguori, Carl Schmitz, Rakia Faber, and Daisy Murray Holman.

ISBN: 978-0-9908058-2-3 Printed and bound in Boston by Grossman Marketing Group © VAN DOREN WAXTER, New York, NY All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this catalogue may be reproduced without permission of the publisher.

Cover: CR no. 790, p. 33 Frontispiece: CR no. 1190, p. 31

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