I went and saw the Richard Diebenkorn Berkeley Years show at the de Young museum the other day. I have, over the years, had mixed feeling about Diebenkorn--never, for instance, being as enamored of his figurative work as many folks seem to be. But as in my thirties I have found myself turning and returning more and more to mid-century abstract painting, both my fondness and respect for his abstract work has continued to increase. Of course the pinnacle of this is his Ocean Park series. For wonderfully captured images of some of those paintings, as well as some very apropos commentary, check out this post on Spencer Alley (the lovely blog of my very own father). Indeed, a few lines of what he says there are so apposite to the my current feelings about, specifically, the big room of abstract canvases in the Berkeley Years show that I will just quote them here directly:
"...his paintings continue to get better as they outlive their creator. Every day in every way, they are improving – and soon will have left both their estimable and their delusional origins behind them altogether."
Oh, to sit in a room surrounded by these!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso - thanks to the links to Spencer Alley - love seeing the series, but also love the Matisses behind it. That View of Notre Dame is, as they say, the bomb.