Etching, aquatint and drypoint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Five Aquatints with Drypoint
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-diebenkorn-1004" aria-label="More by Richard Diebenkorn" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Richard Diebenkorn</a>
4
Purchased 1982
abstraction
architecture
from recognisable sources
irregular forms
landscape
landscape
landscape - non-specific
non-representational
townscape
townscapes / man-made features
<p>This is an abstract image with residual landscape features. It relates to Diebenkorn's 'Ocean Park' paintings, an extended series of pictures made between 1967 and the late 1980s, eventually numbering well over one hundred works. An important inspiration for the series were the near abstract paintings of Matisse, made between 1909 and 1916. Diebenkorn's images depict tilted-up perspectives of suburban views, criss-crossed with roadways, found on the West Coast of America where the artist lived for many years. The prints of this series, while recalling the abstract shapes and lines of Diebenkorn's paintings, are complete works in their own right. In their modest scale, they relate closely to his drawings and studies for compositions.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper print etching aquatint drypoint
#4
image: 277 × 200 mm
Purchased 1982
<p>This is an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'"><span>abstract</span></a> image with residual <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> features. It relates to Diebenkorn's 'Ocean Park' <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>, an extended series of pictures made between 1967 and the late 1980s, eventually numbering well over one hundred works. An important inspiration for the series were the near abstract paintings of Matisse, made between 1909 and 1916. Diebenkorn's images depict tilted-up <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/perspective" title="Glossary definition for 'Perspective'"><span>perspectives</span></a> of suburban views, criss-crossed with roadways, found on the West Coast of America where the artist lived for many years. The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a> of this series, while recalling the abstract shapes and lines of Diebenkorn's paintings, are complete works in their own right. In their modest scale, they relate closely to his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> and studies for compositions.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/diebenkorn-4-p07644" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07644</span></a> <b>No. 4 from Five Aquatints with Drypoint 1978</b>
<br/>
<br/>Etching with open bite, aquatint and drypoint 10 7/8 × 7 7/8 (277 × 200) on paper 18 7/8 × 13 (480 × 330) watermarked ‘RIVES’, printed by Lilah Toland at Crown Point Press, Oakland, California and published by them
<br/>Inscribed ‘4 RD 78’ b.r. and ‘20/35’; impressed with the printer's and publisher's stamp
<br/>Purchased at Christie's, New York (Grant-in-Aid) 1982
<br/>Lit: Richard Diebenkorn: Intaglio Prints, exhibition catalogue, University of California, Santa Barbara, Art Museum, June–September 1979, no. 114 (trial proof repr. p.51)
<br/>
<br/>Having previously had two stints making <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etchings</span></a> at Crown Point Press, in 1963–5 and 1977, Diebenkorn returned there in December 1978 to make the set from which this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> comes, a single etching and another set entitled ‘Six Softground Etchings’. These prints explore the same subjects as Diebenkorn's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> but though they are complete works in their own right they relate more closely to his working <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> and studies for compositions. This print, characteristically, relates to his extended series of ‘Ocean Park’ paintings, in which an up-tilted <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/perspective" title="Glossary definition for 'Perspective'"><span>perspective</span></a> of American West Coast suburban views criss-crossed with roadways is <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'"><span>abstracted</span></a> into a powerful formal vocabulary of shapes and lines: ‘No.4’ ‘is essentially abstract even with the whimsical <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> motif at the top’ (letter from the artist, 1986).
<br/>
<br/>This entry has been aproved by the artist.
<br/>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><i>The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions</i>, London 1986
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction architecture from recognisable sources irregular forms landscape landscape landscape - non-specific non-representational townscape townscapes / man-made features