Richard Diebenkorn : Ocean Park /

Examined here is the artist's most famous series of paintings. Begun in 1967, Diebenkorn continued the series until his death this year. Flam, in his short essay, attempts to answer some of the most compelling questions surrounding this artist and his work: Diebenkorn's shift from abstraction in the 1960s, his struggle between realism and abstraction, where the paintings in this series exist within his entire oeuvre, and other issues. Although this book has good reproductions, a good bibliography, and a complete exhibition record, it is not really appropriate for a general library except one that aspires to an extensive collection on Diebenkorn. Most collections would be better served by a more well rounded text. Diebenkorn has emerged as one of the most important painters of his time; yet, being a California artist, he has sometimes been ignored. A library with an interest in contemporary art must certainly include him. Gerald Nordland's Richard Diebenkorn (1987) is a good book on the artist. R.J. Merrill University of Southern California

West coast artist Diebenkorn, widely regarded as a modern master, moved between representative and abstract styles before sealing his reputation with the ongoing series of abstract ``Ocean Park'' paintings treated in this volume. Thirteen works from this series--named for the Santa Monica, Calif., district to which Diebenkorn moved his studio in 1967--are reproduced here in rich color, one to a page. Flam, professor of art history at the City College of New York and a Matisse specialist, contributes a sensitive essay. Eschewing for the most part comparisons between Diebenkorn's work and that of his contemporaries, Flam focuses on Matisse's influence on the Ocean Park paintings, manifest in the tension between the two-dimensional rectilinear geometries of their form and their deeper intimations of landscapes and urban window views. The muted colors and weathered textures of these works suggest the industrial, coastal urban landscape; Flam appropriately stresses the importance of their title city to them, both as an inspiration and as an emblem: ``ocean, park'' representing the extremes of nature, the boundless and the delimited. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved