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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Richard Diebenkorn: Wartime Works 1943-1945

Aug 14, 2020 – Sept 13, 2021
23 East 73rd Street, New York, NY 10021, United States

“Like many families, my parents and their friends didn’t discuss the war much,” Gretchen Diebenkorn Grant, daughter of the American artist Richard Diebenkorn, has said. Diebenkorn’s service during the Second World War was largely a mystery to his daughter. It was only after he died that she first glimpsed this shadowy time in his life, seeing it through sketches and watercolors done in the barracks and depicting military figures, from authoritative officers to forlorn soldiers. This virtual exhibition presents Diebenkorn’s moving works, a survey of the many moods of war that captures the confused heart of combat. It also shows a young artist honing his style while waiting out the war, experimenting with surrealism, realism, and expressionism. —C.J.F.