Richard Diebenkorn is an artist with strong ties to the Bay
Area, having attended both Stanford and UC Berkeley and teaching at what is
today the San Francisco Art Institute. Richard
Diebenkorn: The Berkeley Years, 1953-1966 exhibition at the de Young museum
focuses on the later period of his work, when he resided in Berkeley for 13
years and produced some of his most wide-ranging, complex work.
This period encompasses a huge array of subject matter, from
abstract and figurative work to landscapes, interiors and still-life. A leading
abstract expressionist on the west coast, his palette is heavily influenced by
the surrounding landscape, with large areas of green, panels of yellows and
orange reflecting the mellow Californian sunshine. He works largely in square
blocks of colour which flatten the picture plane into a series of abstract
shapes, his more fluid figurative work is also broken up into these expansive
areas of color which are steeped in rich colors of the hills and water of the
Bay Area. Even his interiors are engaged with the local landscape, his strong
brushstrokes softening the geometric shapes and giving the areas of such
extreme light and shade a human touch. Few artists can move from abstraction to
figurative to landscape with such ease, and it is Diebenkorn’s strong style
that allows such movement.
Figure on a Porch
features a lone woman facing an expanse of water. The yellow field in which she
stands is indistinguishable as manmade architecture from the green landscape spread
out before her. As with the two folding chairs in front and behind her, she is
made up of several geometric blocks of color that mimic the blocks of the
landscape around her. Rather than becoming subsumed by the strength of the
landscape, the figure is instead harmonious with its surroundings. This is the
power of Diebenkorn’s work, figures, objects and nature are all a part of the
world of colour, building blocks of the nature that we are steeped in.
The exhibition is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San
Francisco, in collaboration with the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Richard Diebenkorn: The Berkeley Years, 1953-1966, de Young
museum, San Francisco through September 29, 2013.
