Image: Oakland Museum of California, OMCA
The Oakland Museum of California is highlighting Richard Diebenkorn’s centennial with a small but pointed presentation from its permanent collection. In a blog post titled 'Celebrate the Diebenkorn Centennial with OMCA', the museum says visitors can view three Diebenkorn paintings in the Gallery of California Art and join an offline/online celebration of the artist’s legacy. The museum’s invitation is tied to #Diebenkorn100, a year-long public campaign that encourages visitors to share selfies in front of a Diebenkorn and tag @oaklandmuseumca.
Diebenkorn, born Richard Clifford Diebenkorn Jr. in 1922 and dying in 1993, is described by OMCA as best known for abstract and figurative work with a distinctly West Coast character. The museum uses the centennial to restage his importance within California art history, not as a footnote to New York modernism but as a central figure in a Bay Area-led shift away from pure abstraction. That framing matters because it places OMCA’s holdings inside a larger story about how West Coast artists helped expand postwar American painting.
According to the museum, Diebenkorn made his foray onto the national art scene in 1957 with 'Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting', a show held at the Oakland Museum of Art, the earlier institution that later merged into what is now OMCA. The blog presents that exhibition as pivotal because it marked a clear break from Abstract Expressionism by reinserting recognisable figures and objects into painting. OMCA links Diebenkorn to the Bay Area Figurative Movement alongside artists including David Park, Elmer Bischoff and Hassel Smith, and notes that the group’s weekly lunches and drawing sessions formed part of their shared working culture.
The three works now on view in the Gallery of California Art are 'Seated Nude–Arm on Knee' (1962), 'Figure on a Porch' (1959) and 'Woman with Chin in Hand' (1958). OMCA says the gallery is organised thematically around California Land, California People and California Creativity, and that Diebenkorn remains one of its highlights. The museum also points to David Park’s 'Portrait of Richard Diebenkorn' (1953) as an example of the gestural energy associated with the Bay Area Figurative movement, situating Diebenkorn within a broader local network rather than as an isolated master.
The centennial reminder is also a prompt to look again at the range of Diebenkorn’s practice. OMCA describes his paintings as layered, gestural and geometric, often using oil and acrylic with bright colour and occasional charcoal markings. The blog notes that he painted landscapes of places where he lived and worked, including San Francisco, Berkeley, Healdsburg, Sausalito and Santa Monica, and that he later returned to a more abstract style in the 'Ocean Park' series after moving to Santa Monica. The museum presents that turn as part of a continuing journey between abstraction and representation.
What makes OMCA’s centennial note significant is its emphasis on continuity: the artist is still visible in the museum’s permanent collection, and the Bay Area’s role in shaping modern painting is still being actively narrated through display. By placing Diebenkorn in conversation with California-specific themes, OMCA underscores how regional art histories can reshape the standard story of twentieth-century art. The result is less a commemorative gesture than a reminder that the museum’s collection continues to frame Diebenkorn as a key figure in California’s artistic identity.
