Morisa Rosenberg
Head of Department
Property from the Estate of Dr. Thomas and Tecoah Bruce, Berkeley
Lot 119
Richard Diebenkorn(1922-1993)Green
26 March 2024, 10:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$572,000 inc. premium
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Victoria Zaks
Specialist, Head of Sale
Catherine Lay
Cataloguer
Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993)
Green, 1986
Etching with aquatint and drypoint in colors on Somerset paper, initialed in pencil, dated and numbered 1/60 (there were also 10 artist's proofs), with the blindstamp of the publisher/printer, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, with full margins, framed.
44 7/8 x 35 1/4in (114 x 89.5cm)
sheet 53 1/2 x 40 3/4in (135.9 x 103.5cm)
Etching with aquatint and drypoint in colors on Somerset paper, initialed in pencil, dated and numbered 1/60 (there were also 10 artist's proofs), with the blindstamp of the publisher/printer, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, with full margins, framed.
44 7/8 x 35 1/4in (114 x 89.5cm)
sheet 53 1/2 x 40 3/4in (135.9 x 103.5cm)
Footnotes
Provenance
Crown Point Press, Oakland
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Green is not only the largest and most important print of the prominent Ocean Park series, but also of Richard Diebenkorn's entire oeuvre. This monumental etching is the culmination of the artist's dedicated relationship with Crown Point Press, built over twenty years of recurring collaborations. The work evokes coastal Southern California by capturing the same atmospheric quality as its oil painting counterparts. A monolithic field of verdant green fills the central composition while rectangular forms of varying blue translucency wash up against passages of sandy ochre. Green's creation is the pinnacle of their partnership, as the printer's innovation and mastery of the medium allowed Diebenkorn to push the boundaries of the technique and bring his ambitious vision to life.
Diebenkorn and his wife, Phyllis, moved from Berkeley to Santa Monica's Ocean Park neighborhood in 1966 when he started teaching at UCLA. While Diebenkorn had already gained acclaim as a prominent member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement, this move marked an incredible transformation as he embarked on a radical period of abstraction. With the Ocean Park series, the artist masterfully re-invented himself to create one of the cornerstones of Post-War American art. These works are defined by their interlocking geometric planes of luminous color evoking an architectural arrangement reminiscent of Henri Matisse's near-abstract work and Piet Mondrian's balanced grids. The coastal marine layer and sweeping sandy beaches juxtaposed against the geometry of Santa Monica's city streets and green parks left a major impression on the artist. This sensibility is carried throughout the prodigious array of paintings and works on paper that comprise the Ocean Park series.
Diebenkorn began printing with Kathan Brown at Crown Point Press in 1963 and would always return as he viewed it as 'a refreshing change of pace in [his] work as a whole which in turn may provide new perspectives on it.' The artist started with smaller black-and-white impressions of figures and still lifes, but as he strengthened his relationship with the master printers, began to add color and complexity, producing more ambitious impressions. Diebenkorn was always striving towards a 'rightness' as he called it, working through dozens of different states and proofs. Green was an incredibly challenging project as the final printing took seven plates, three different greens, and five printers to complete. The harmoniously balanced final state could not have been achieved without the expertise and ingenuity of the printers at Crown Point Press.
