Richard Diebenkorn

Knoedler & Company, New York
Leslie Feely Gallery, New York/ John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (acquired from the above in January 1982)
Private Collection, San Francisco (acquired from the above in 1982)
Sotheby's, New York, May 4, 1987, lot 77A
Private Collection, Los Angeles
Private Collection, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Sotheby's, New York, May 19, 1999, lot 277
Oak Brook Bank, Northbrook, Illinois
Sotheby's, New York, May 11, 2006, lot 220
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

New York, Knoedler & Company, Richard Diebenkorn, January 1982, exh. no. 30

This work appears to be in very good condition overall. The sheet exhibits a slight undulation which is inherent to the artist's working method. There are a few artist's pinholes at each corner and also along the side edges. Additionally, there is a minute crease located at the left edge approximately 11 ¼ inches from the bottom edge. This work is hinged to the matte intermittently along the top edge. Framed under Plexiglas.
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.

Richard Diebenkorn, known both as an Abstract Expressionist and as a key figure in the Bay Area Figurative Movement, perhaps more than any other artist of his time, was influenced by his surrounding environment. Diebenkorn considered himself a traditionalist and welcomed identification as a landscape and figurative painter. During the early 1980's he moved away from his Ocean Park series of large paintings and began to focus his work only on paper, with a variety of medium. It was during this time when he began a new series based on playing-card figures, most usually focusing on the spade and club motifs. He found it essential during this time of his oeuvre to be working on a smaller scale, and primarily on paper. Diebenkorn had always worked with these motifs from the beginnings, but in 1981, he tackled this theme directly and discovered that these symbols had much more emotional effects than he had initially anticipated.

The strict linear scaffolding around which his Ocean Park series was structured can be seen here in Untitled (Spade) dominated by the bold and curvaceous shape of the Spade. While his work of this time focused on the playing card motif, typically, they all began with the basic structure that defined Diebenkorn's stylistic oeuvre: "The point of his radiant geometry is to transform visible signs into meaning and to compress meaning into the briefest possible indication of the character of a thing. His medium of transformation is light as it irradiates the colors and illuminates the forms," (Richard Newling, ed., Richard Diebenkorn: Work on Paper, Houston, 1987, p. 13). Fusing spatial and chromatic explorations, he created spontaneity in linear composition with a strong sense of structure, light, color and space.

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 most well known Ocean Park compositions, in which Diebenkorn sought to occupy the space between figuration and abstraction with lyrical ease. The coolness in colors and the linear makeup of the present work indicates a renegotiation of the aesthetics terms within his visual repertoire, and demonstrates a paramount example of Diebenkorn's mature style and unparalleled mastery with color and forms.