It is not everyday that Richard Diebenkorn has a museum focus on him, and that is a shame. The last museum show that I could find on RD is from the Phillips (DC) in the early 1990’s. That said I was happy to hear about the recent show DIEBENKORN IN NEW MEXICO: 1950-1952, at the San Jose Museum.
RD is best known and associated with San Francisco, from his involvement with the bay area figurative painters and later with his amazing “Ocean Park” series. I have never associated RD with “Albuquerque” of all places. Granted he does have a presence in the DC area which is widely known and spoken of as he claimed to use the museums as a training ground in the beginning of his art career when he was stationed here in the military.
This show will not doubt raise some questions concerning RD’s early work – particularly his abstractions. One of the things I’m most interested in will be to see how the desert and its forms carry into his body of work. A body of work so connected to the west coast.
I will not be visiting the Show – I’d love to hear anyones reactions and thoughts.
Richard Diebenkorn, Untitled (Albuquerque), 1952. Oil on canvas, 68 x 60 inches (174.6 x 152.4 cm). The Buck Collection, Laguna Beach, California. Copyright The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn.