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Richard Diebenkorn at Stanford

Richard Diebenkorn at Stanford

Richard Diebenkorn (U.S.A., 1922–1993), Window, 1967. Oil on canvas. © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Diebenkorn and anonymous donors, 1969.125

Director Susan Dackerman and curatorial assistant Jessica Ventura review Richard Diebenkorn’s Window.
Richard Diebenkorn (U.S.A., 1922–1993), Window, 1967. Oil on canvas. © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Diebenkorn and anonymous donors, 1969.125

Experts share their perspectives on viewing the artist’s work at the Cantor and Anderson Collection

Across Stanford’s art museums, guests can experience a mini-survey of works by famed Bay Area artist and Stanford alumnus Richard Diebenkorn, ’49, that range from large-scale abstract paintings to smaller, figurative pieces. An ongoing installation at the Cantor includes innovative, interactive displays showing the underpainting beneath Window (1967), discovered by Stanford undergraduate Katherine Van Kirk, ’19, and high-resolution, digitized copies of Diebenkorn’s 29 sketchbooks, which were gifted to the museum by Phyllis Diebenkorn, Richard’s wife, in 2014.


Explore the Sketchbooks

 

Katharine Fulton-Peebles

Richard Diebenkorn Foundation Manager of Online Services

“Richard Diebenkorn was a lifelong learner. He understood the importance of education and professorship, and he championed continuous artistic exploration throughout his entire career. He valued the search, once writ-ing on a scrap of paper in his studio, ‘Do search. But in order to find other than what is searched for.’ In 1942, Diebenkorn enrolled in his first college art classes as a sophomore at Stanford University, where his professor, Daniel Mendelowitz, became an early mentor and advocate of the young artist.”

Stanford University, Office of Development, Richard Diebenkorn, 1963–64. Photograph. Courtesy of Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries

Susi Housman

Cantor Arts Center Docent

“Notice the colors, the brushstrokes, the multiple layers. Take a minute of silence to just look at the work and observe its nuances, as well as the immediacy of its scale. Looking at Window (1967) gives us the opportunity to think about and share where we, the viewers, actually are and what we are looking at. There are no right or wrong observations, [but we’re asked to] define our perspective: Where are we as the viewers? Are we inside or outside?”

Richard Diebenkorn (U.S.A., 1922–1993), Drawing from Sketchbook # 15, 1943–93. Graphite on paper. © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation. Gift of Phyllis Diebenkorn, 2014.15.3

Jessica Ventura

Cantor Arts Center Curatorial Assistant

“In his sketchbooks, Diebenkorn worked out familiar themes and structures seen later in his paintings. For example, there is a study drawing in Sketchbook #15 of the painting Window, one of Diebenkorn’s first large-scale paintings and the first to be completed in his studio in the Ocean Park neighborhood of Santa Monica, California. The model in a resting pose in Sketchbook #24 is similar to the figure in the painting Resting, a painting last shown in 1954 at an exhibition in London and now on view at the Cantor.”

Richard Diebenkorn (U.S.A., 1922–1993), Window, 1967. Oil on canvas. © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Diebenkorn and anonymous donors, 1969.125

 

 


 

Spring 2020 Magazine

A digital copy of the magazine is available by clicking the button below. While some of the dates of exhibits mentioned in the magazine will inevitably change, rest assured that we will share those details when they are finalized.

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