"I guess my work's always swinging back and forth between pared-down simplicity and an attempt to hold on to the incidentals. . . . " —Richard Diebenkorn
Sense of Place
—Richard Diebenkorn
"I guess my work's always swinging back and forth between pared-down simplicity and an attempt to hold on to the incidentals. . . . "
Following age-old tradition, this painting by Diebenkorn functions as a window, framing a view of Oakland's compact cityscape as seen from the artist's studio. The muted colors convey the Bay Area's cool dampness.
Source: Modernism & Abstraction: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999). Source of quote: Dan Hofstadter, "Almost Free of the Mirror," New Yorker, September 7, 1987.
Pictured: Richard Diebenkorn, 1922–93, View of Oakland, 1962, oil, 58 5/8 x 54 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.