Richard Diebenkorn: The Berkeley Years, 1953-1966
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Individual Artists
Richard Diebenkorn: The Berkeley Years, 1953-1966 Details
Review “This sumptuous book presents the work of American painter Diebenkorn (1922–1993) in a period of explosive growth . . . The grand achievement of the book is the way that the works hang together and evoke a sense of place.”—Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)“If you are interested in 20th-century painting, this book needs to be in your library.”—Tyler Green, Modern Art Notes (Tyler Green Modern Art Notes) Read more About the Author Timothy Anglin Burgard is Ednah Root Curator-in-Charge of the American Art Department at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Steven A. Nash is executive director of the Palm Springs Art Museum. Emma Acker is assistant curator of American Art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Read more
Reviews
When you buy a monograph on an artist, you want lots of large scale, color images of his most important works. This new book definitely delivers.The introductory essays are excellent, informative and original, as you would expect given the authors. Much like the previous book on Diebenkorn's years in Albuquerque, what you will particularly enjoy in this book are the excellent reproductions of these exciting and lesser known paintings. The artist had a wonderful focus on color throughout his career (to be expected, given his acknowledged influence by Matisse) and we see his abstract work really develop during his years in Berkeley.Diebenkorn's style continued to evolve during this period and, after a few tentative steps via works new to me, at least, the book shows the artist's shift into his figurative period. Of course, following his move to teach at UCLA he eventually developed his mature, abstract Ocean Park style which continued for the remainder of his career. There are numerous books focusing on his Ocean Park work and briefly covering his Berkeley years, but this is the first significant monograph dealing exclusively with this exciting period. I found the third essay, comparing his airplane snapshots of the ground from 30,000 feet to his later paintings, particularly interesting.A valuable addition to the Diebenkorn oeuvre and a bargain at Amazon's price.
