Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) is not only among the most famous painters to graduate from UNM’s College of Fine Arts, but one of the most prominent American artists of the 20th century. Though he is well known for his abstract expressionist paintings, few are aware of the impact his time in New Mexico had on his work.
That may soon change.
The UNM Harwood Museum of Art in Taos recently opened “Diebenkorn in New Mexico,” an exhibit bringing together more than 50 of his paintings and works on paper that haven’t been shown together since 1951.
Charles Strong, co-curator of the exhibit and a former student of Diebenkorn, said that four years ago he had the idea that the paintings Diebenkorn made in New Mexico should be shown again in New Mexico. “I was surprised that there had never been an exhibition that focused just on the Albuquerque series,” he said.
Diebenkorn joined UNM’s graduate art program on the GI Bill in 1950 after resigning a faculty position at the California School of Fine Arts. Martin Facey, who worked with Diebenkorn for nearly 20 years, first as a student and later as a studio assistant, said, “He wanted to go somewhere where he could make his work fresh, unencumbered.”
The landscape was a significant part of New Mexico’s appeal. “I shared with him a fondness for the light in New Mexico,” Facey said. “The air is sharp, the colors are unusually brilliant, and of course the tri-part culture was an influence on him as it is on most New Mexico artists, including myself.”
Though the change of scene was what attracted Diebenkorn, it was also a source of trepidation. “He was worried about leaving the coast and whether he could live away from the ocean,” Strong said. “But then he discovered that the sky was the ocean. So he produced this very intensive, exciting body of work in the two years that he was here.”
“Diebenkorn in New Mexico” will be shown at the UNM Harwood Museum of Art in Taos through Sept. 9 and then travel to San Jose and New York City. An all-day symposium will be held Aug. 24, featuring nationally prominent Diebenkorn scholars and authors.
For more information visit http://www.harwoodmuseum.org.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593, E-Mail: michal@unm.edu
Reprinted in part from Mirage Magazine.