Abstract Landscape in Richard Diebenkorn’s Works

Abstract

This research is devoted to the study of creative work of the leading representative of San Francisco school of abstract expressionism Richard Diebenkorn (1922—1993). Despite the wide popularity of the artist in the United States, the name of Richard Diebenkorn occurs in Russian art studies episodically, which makes the topic of research relevant. Diebenkorn’s creative path could be divided into three periods: mastering the experience of abstract expressionism (1948—1955), turning to figurative practice (1955—1967) and the “mature period”, associated with the cycle of works “Ocean Park” (1967—1988). The formation of his pictorial language was influenced, at different times, by Clyfford Still, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Henri Matisse and Edward Hopper. Diebenkorn’s creative work is quite diverse and represented by painting, graphics, collages, sculptural objects. This research is focused on the artist’s painting. San Francisco abstract expressionism was less influenced by European modernism and was more focused on the connection with the surrounding nature. Richard Diebenkorn became famous, first of all, as a master of “abstract landscape”. This article studies the abstractionist’s theme of landscape, which was getting various refractions and interpretations at each stage of his artistic biography. In Diebenkorn’s creative works, the landscape changes through the evolution of the artist’s pictorial language. Basing on the experience of previous periods, the artist developed his unique abstract pictorial language in the “Ocean Park”, by means of which he managed to render the light and air environment.