- 157
Richard Diebenkorn
Estimate
500,000 - 700,000 USD
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Description
- Richard Diebenkorn
- Still Life - Black Table
signed with the artist's initials and dated 63; signed, titled and dated 1963 on the reverse
- oil on canvas
- 22 by 26 in. 55.9 by 66 in.
- Executed in 1963, this work will be included in the forthcoming Richard Diebenkorn Catalogue Raisonné and is registered under estate number RD 1361.
Provenance
Poindexter Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1963
Exhibited
San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, Richard Diebenkorn: Paintings 1961–1963, September - October 1963, no. 33
New York, Poindexter Gallery, Richard Diebenkorn, October - November 1963
Condition
This work is in very good overall condition. There is evidence of wear and handling at the edges and corners with scattered associated small losses. There are also a few scattered pinpoint paint losses on the surface of the canvas. Under ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Still Life – Black Table, 1963, is an alluring example of Richard Diebenkorn's figurative painting, a body of work that would surpass his earlier abstractions both in importance and expressive power. As the artist recalled, "when I stopped abstract painting and started figure painting it was as though a kind of constraint came in that was welcomed because I had felt that in the last of the abstract paintings around '55, it was almost as though I could do too much too easily. There was nothing hard to come up against. And suddenly the figure painting furnished a lot of this." (Diebenkorn interviewed by Gail Scott in Exh. Cat., Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum, New Paintings by Richard Diebenkorn, 1969, p. 6).
The present work, rendered in a nuanced grey scale and minimally highlighted with rosy pigment, situates domestic objects within a field of skewed, planar geometry. The water glass, china plate, and cropped silver utensil are suspended with a charming naiveté on what only approximates the perspective of a grid. "The still-life object firmly anchored him in concrete reality... [there is an] arresting discrepancy between the quality of literal verisimilitude in the small [still-lifes] of humble objects and the somehow metaphoric, even allegorical, character of the more ambitiously scaled interiors." (Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1998, p, 50).
Interestingly, if the representational imagery in the present work were to be removed from this composition, the strong, though subtle, geometry could easily be translated into the artist's later and perhaps most well known Ocean Park compositions, in which Diebenkorn sought to occupy the space between figuration and abstraction with lyrical ease. Despite the solemn palette and flattened, cool geometry, Still Life – Black Table still retains a sense of intimacy and atmosphere evoked by the presence of familiar and discernible objects.
The present work, rendered in a nuanced grey scale and minimally highlighted with rosy pigment, situates domestic objects within a field of skewed, planar geometry. The water glass, china plate, and cropped silver utensil are suspended with a charming naiveté on what only approximates the perspective of a grid. "The still-life object firmly anchored him in concrete reality... [there is an] arresting discrepancy between the quality of literal verisimilitude in the small [still-lifes] of humble objects and the somehow metaphoric, even allegorical, character of the more ambitiously scaled interiors." (Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1998, p, 50).
Interestingly, if the representational imagery in the present work were to be removed from this composition, the strong, though subtle, geometry could easily be translated into the artist's later and perhaps most well known Ocean Park compositions, in which Diebenkorn sought to occupy the space between figuration and abstraction with lyrical ease. Despite the solemn palette and flattened, cool geometry, Still Life – Black Table still retains a sense of intimacy and atmosphere evoked by the presence of familiar and discernible objects.