Ochre
27 3/8 x 38 1/4 inchesOchre, 1983
sheet: 27 1/4 x 38 1/8 inches
image: 24 7/8 x 35 5/8 inches
frame: 28 1/2 x 39 1/4 inches
Edition: 200
Proofs: 20 AP, 13 TP, 1 OKTP, 1 known WP
signed with initials dated and numbered `RD 83' in pencil lower margin
Printer: Tadashi Toda at Shi-un-do Print Shop, Kyoto, Japan
Publisher: Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Literature
Richard Diebenkorn: The Catalogue Raisonné of Prints, Andrea Liguori, Yale University Press, 2025, no. 288, illustrated in full color, pg. 392
Richard Diebenkorn Prints 1961-1992, Kathan Brown, 2012, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, illustrated in full color, pg 39.
Richard Diebenkorn The Ocean Park Series, Sarah C. Bancroft, Prestel, 2011, study for Ochre: Untitled #13, 1983 gouache, acrylic and crayon on paper 25 x 36 inches, illustrated in full color, plate 100 pg. 181
Selected Museum Collections
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Additional Photos
Full Sheet
Signature, Date & blindstamp lower right
Edition number lower left
gouache, acrylic and crayon on paper
Study for Ochre
Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993), a celebrated 20th-century American artist, is best known for his large-scale abstract paintings featuring luminous vertical compositions and carefully arranged geometries. Deeply inspired by California light, his work explores balance between line, color, and space. Diebenkorn’s prints—created using various printmaking techniques—expanded these themes on a smaller scale. A standout is Ochre (1983), a color woodcut printed by Tadashi Toda under the supervision of Kathan Brown at Crown Point Press. It showcases the refined linemaking and layered color emblematic of his mature style.
A PINONEER IN PRINTMAKING
Born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in San Francisco, Richard Diebenkorn spent most of his life in California, a central influence on his role in the West Coast art scene. As a teacher at institutions such as UCLA and USC, he helped shape postwar American painting. His influences ranged from Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse to Hans Hofmann and Abstract Expressionism. He synthesized these into a uniquely personal style, culminating in his iconic Ocean Park series (1967–1988), known for architecturally balanced abstract compositions rooted in his Santa Monica environment.
Born in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, Diebenkorn grew up San Francisco and spent most of his life in California. He worked for much of his career as a teaching artist in various universities such as University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. Diebenkorn had a wide range of artistic influences from Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse to Hans Hofmann, to Abstract Expressionism, then well in-vogue on the East coast. However, rather than copying any past or concurring style, Diebenkorn synthesized what interested him into a practice uniquely his own. This culminated in his most well-known series, Ocean Park, beginning in 1967: it features architecturally-balanced abstract compositions dependent on his environment—a celebration of the constant light flooding into his Santa Monica studio.
Diebenkorn remained a distinctly West Coast artist despite the dominance of the New York art scene. His unique ability to transition between abstract and figurative painting brought him critical success. Beginning in the 1940s, he used printmaking as a tool for creative exploration, producing over 200 works in media including intaglio. His decades-long collaboration with Kathan Brown at Crown Point Press was instrumental to his printmaking evolution.
In the 1950s, he explored a figurative style before returning to abstraction in the 1960s. The Ocean Park paintings—large-scale, light-infused compositions—were inspired by California’s coastal landscape. Though initially hesitant to use color in his prints, Diebenkorn began the Eight Color Etchings series in 1980, encouraged by Brown. These works, including Ochre, successfully conveyed the formal depth and transparent layering of his paintings in printed form.
Today, Richard Diebenkorn prints, especially his color woodcuts and etchings, are highly sought after by collectors and institutions. His balanced compositions, restrained beauty, and modest independence helped define the modern printmaking landscape and established his enduring legacy in 20th-century American art.
"Balanced and harmonious yet gritty and in flux, Diebenkorn’s work is truly his own... His modest independence—both in his person and in his art—kept his work from being easily labeled... For as long as I can remember, Diebenkorn’s work has been respected by virtually all the artists I admire.”— Kathan Brown