From Publishers Weekly
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.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
