Diebenkorn In New Mexico, Taos Mountain in the background, Taos, New Mexico, July 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
When I was in Taos in July, we carpooled over to the Harwood Museum of Art to see Diebenkorn In New Mexico. When I was looking through my Taos photos last night, I realized I had wanted to do a post on Richard Diebenkorn after I got back. Time has rolled on without me.
The exhibit is moving to the San Jose Museum of Art and will open there Sunday, October 14th, 2007. If you are in the area, it’s worth checking out this period of Diebenkorn’s life (1950 – 1952).
Playing Favorites, Diebenkorn In New Mexico Exhibit, Harwood Museum, Taos, New Mexico, July 2007, photos by QuoinMonkey, all rights reserved.
It was in 1950 that Diebenkorn enrolled in the Masters of Fine Arts program at the University of New Mexico, leaving behind a teaching position at the California School of Fine Arts (now known as the San Francisco Arts Institute). It had been at the California School of Fine Arts that Diebenkorn crossed paths with artist, David Park, who became his mentor and friend.
Natalie wrote about Diebenkorn in her book about painting, Living Color: A Writer Paints Her World. (It’s one of my favorites. Read Chapter 1, How I Paint at this link.) So she was thrilled to take the class of 50+ students to the Harwood to see his work. In preparation for the visit, she told stories about her chance meeting with Helen Park Bigelow and a series of strange twists and turns that led her to learn that Helen was David Park’s daughter.
Though I missed Helen’s August lecture at the Harwood last summer, her introduction explains:
After the Diebenkorns returned to the Bay Area from New Mexico, they and my parents became best friends. I was married and living nearby, and it was during those years, the fifties, that my three children were born. I was in and out of my parent’s house, where I saw Dick and Phyllis often, and got to know them and love them and also got to know and love Dick’s works. Through my father, Dick and the third player in that important friendship, the painter Elmer Bischof, those years gave us what became known as Bay Figurative Painting, and the emergence into national recognition of David, Dick and Elmer. As I observed the three young painters, Dick and Elmer in their thirties and David in his forties, their passion for work left deep impressions. For my Harwood Talk I will share stories and insights from those years, with a focus on the friendship, competition and recognition the three painters shared.
The last few times I have visited museums with Natalie’s classes, she has had each person slow walk around the exhibit and view the work (it was O’Keeffe last December in Santa Fe). When she rings the bell, we stop – and choose our favorite painting, the one we would love to take home, by standing directly in front of it. Then we describe what we like about the piece.
It’s another form of practice that Natalie teaches, to slow down and take in each piece of art in silence. I call it museum walking. Other people viewing the exhibit usually join in with the class. It’s a great exercise in seeing.
And, for me, I find that the painting I like the most is not necessarily the same painting I could stand to live with for the rest of my life! There are many things to consider when choosing art for one’s walls.
Diebenkorn In New Mexico was organized by the Harwood and highlights a little-known period of Diebenkorn’s work. But it was a time that had a lasting impact on his career.
The exhibition brings together 50 paintings, works on paper, and sculpture that have never been seen together before.
We’d love to know which piece you’d take home. But be prepared. Museum walking makes the guards quite nervous.
-posted on red Ravine, Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
-related to posts: Mabel’s Dining Room, A Reason To Be In Taos This Summer
Continues Upstairs, Diebenkorn In New Mexico Exhibit, Harwood Museum, Taos, New Mexico, July 2007, photo by QuoinMonkey, all rights reserved.
I find that the painting I like the most is not necessarily the same painting I could stand to live with for the rest of my life!
I had never considered this particular insight. Does this mean that the art you would buy might be something you’d have to think about differently from the art you love upon first viewing the various pieces? I imagine you might need to come back to the pieces a few times and see how you feel about them, yes?
I’m intrigued by how people buy art. It seems a connection to art is often so emotional that people might buy what calls out to them first and not think about a longer relationship with the piece.
Also, is one of pieces above the caption “Playing Favorites” one of your favorites? I like them both, esp the one on the left. But my favorite of the ones you published is the one at the bottom.
I’m glad you got to see the exhibit. And I love your characterization of that slow walking in a museum as “museum walking.” I do that now with my girls when we go to a museum.
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[…] Art wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptDiebenkorn Leaves Taos – Museum Walking Lives On Sep 25th, 2007 by QuoinMonkey [ … to the Harwood Museum of Art to see Diebenkorn In New Mexico. When I was looking through my Taos photos … has rolled on without me. The exhibit is moving to the San Jose Museum of Art and will open there Sunday […]
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ybonesy, yeah, I hardly ever buy the piece I’m first drawn to. I really contemplate for a while. I’m generally drawn to darker, rawer pieces first. But they are not what I want to live with every day!
So walking around the Diebenkorn work, I actually chose another painting for my favorite. But the one on the right (above Playing Favorites) is one I think I could live with. I didn’t post an image of my first impulse. It kind of had a blood red line running through the edge of it.
The image on the left (above Playing Favorites) was Natalie’s favorite. We were standing around talking at the end and when I asked her again what her favorite was, she enthusiastically pointed to that one. And I turned and snapped it. It may be different now. It’s only a moment in time. I’m sure my fave has changed, too.
Art is a strange thing. It is so personal. I think it’s good to think about the household where it will be hanging. If you live alone, maybe it doesn’t matter as much. But even then, I’m looking for more positive images for my living space. That’s just where I am.
Your questions are good ones. Another thing to think about, do we create the kind of art we’d like to hang in our homes? I know I didn’t a few decades ago. A lot of my pieces were about moving through the gunk inside. But now much of my art is more along the lines of what I might like to live with.
The museum walking, I still use it. So many of the practices that Natalie taught us over the years are incorporated into my life. I loved it best when we did them in silence. But I use them in the everyday chaos, too.
The practices of slow walking, writing practice, photography (in silence), haiku, just sitting, museum walking, whatever practice it is – if I can remember to just do it, it helps ground me when I’m struggling. And I’ve been struggling over the last few weeks.
Writing pieces like this about practice – dumb, da, dum, dumb. Help me become a dumb saint of the mind again.
I love it that you do museum walking with your girls. I remember you writing about it. Have there been any good museum shows around your neck of the woods lately?
I saw a photography show last weekend that I plan to do a post about. It was out of this world. Mostly black and whites. Then I also went to a poetry reading last week.
I digest things before I write about them. I guess that holding is part of my style. I look at it like a slow bend in the river. 8)
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BTW, maybe I should change the name of the last image to ybonesy’s Favorite. It has a nice ring. The book for the show was fabulous. The next best thing to purchasing.
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All three are great images. It’s easy to say, my favorite is this one. But if really confronting a decision to purchase one, I’d have to spend a lot of time with them.
It’s a matter of striking a balance for me. If I spend too much time contemplating a decision, I overanalyze and then I have a hard time making the decision. My brain overrides my gut. I don’t know if that happens to other people, too. It’s kind of maddening. Sometimes I have no choice but to go with my first love, else I’ll get stuck.
No compelling museum shows coming up in this neck of the woods that I know of. But I’ll keep my eyes open.
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Museum walking sounds like labyrinth walking! I love the idea.
My brain tries to override my gut, too, ybonesy, all the time.
I have devised a goofy way to get what my gut wants…I play eenie meenie miney moe, like the kids ‘choosing sides’ game, and then let myself pick the one I really wanted, if it doesn’t get ‘landed on’ in the game. Easy, huh?
“One of my faves” on the right, above, struck me as a large face, with a finger to its lips, saying shhhhh.
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leslie, you know, it kind of *is* like labyrinth walking. The comparison is fitting. I’ve been wanting to explore some new labyrinths lately.
I also like the “large face with finger to lips”….the shhhhhh is so in tune with museum walking.
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[…] Did you like this brief introduction? Find out about it in full detail here. […]
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[…] who came to study with me at Mabel Dodge. Her father was David Park, and he was a contemporary of Richard Diebenkorn. He’s part of the California Figurative School. I saw an incredible painting of his hanging at […]
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[…] Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Like we had done at museums in New Mexico with Natalie Goldberg (see Diebenkorn Leaves Taos – Museum Walking Lives On), we walked around in silence, then gathered in front of the museum to do Writing Practice. I like […]
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