The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 4, 2023

Ocean Park #109

1978

Richard Diebenkorn

(American, 1922–1993)

America, 20th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 256.1 x 195 x 4.8 cm (100 13/16 x 76 3/4 x 1 7/8 in.); Unframed: 254 x 193 cm (100 x 76 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund and gift of The Cleveland Society for Contemporary Art and an Anonymous Donor 1979.17

© The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The <em>Ocean Park</em> series drew inspiration from Henri Matisse’s <em>View of Notre Dame</em> (1914) and <em>French Window at Collioure</em> (1914), which Diebenkorn saw at a Los Angeles exhibition in 1966.

Description

This work belongs to Diebenkorn’s landmark painting series Ocean Park, named for the then derelict artist neighborhood in which Diebenkorn lived, a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean. Rather than simply painting the landscape from his studio window, Diebenkorn intensely focused on the qualities of the natural light as it shone upon the surrounding buildings, water, and trees. Each painting from this series can be seen as a meditation on the way the natural world influences and affects our daily lives.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Initialed lower right: "RD 78"

Citations
Hinson, Tom E. "Recent Paintings by Richard Diebenkorn and Jack Tworkov." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 2 (1980): 31-40. Reproduced: cover; Mentioned: p. 31-40 www.jstor.org
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (1980): 58-99. Reproduced: cat. no. 54, p. 79; Mentioned: p. 61 www.jstor.org
Livingston, Jane, and Andrea Liguori. Richard Diebenkorn: The Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. 261
Exhibition history

M. Knoedler & Co., New York: Richard Diebenkorn: Mary 12-May 31, 1979.

CMA: "Year in Review 1979," Bulletin LXVII (March 1980), cat. no. 54, p. 96, repr. p. 79.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX (9/26/2011 - 1/22/2012), Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA (2/26/2012 - 5/27/2012), and The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (7/3/2012 - 9/23/2012): "Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series"

Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 13-March 9, 1980).

Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX (September 26, 2011-January 22, 2012); Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA (organizer) (February 26-May 27, 2012); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (July 3-September 23, 2012).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1979.17