Richard Diebenkorn: 38th Venice Biennial 1978 by Linda L. Cathcart (review)

Books 169 Richard Diebenkorn: 38th Venice Biennial 1978. Linda L. Cathcart (In English and Italian), New York, 1978. 80 pp., illus. Paper, $12.50. Reviewed by Jeffrey S. Erickson* This is the catalog of one of the two USAmerican artists represented at the 1978VeniceBiennial Exposition, whose theme was From Nature to Art and from Art to Nature. In her compact accompanying essay, Cathcart presents information helpful towards an understanding of the work of Richard Diebenkorn. While the 16 paintings and 10 drawings selected for exhibition and reproduced in the catalog were drawn from his 'Ocean Park' series (dating from 1967 to 1978), she deals primarily with his earlier works that serve as a base for an appreciation of his most recent work. She relies, perhaps too much, on quotes from Diebenkorn and from other writers, nevertheless her deft organization of the material and her own interpolations reveal not only an obvious sympathy for the artist's work but also an understanding of the purposefulness behind the moves Diebenkorn has made to obtain the recognition he has achieved. At the very least, the inclusion of these other writers' comments from the past two decades points up her contention that 'Diebenkorn has never been neglected as a painter' and that it became apparent very early that his development would be worth following. Ironically, early criticism had also to deal with Diebenkorn's unbalanced acknowledgement of his roots in the work of, for example, Hopper and Matisse, his own insistent description of himself as a 'traditional painter', an implied distrust of anything redolent of the 'avant-garde', and his emigration from New York City at a time when many eyes were focused on the art scene there. As to exactly 'where he is today', the paintings and drawings included in the catalog speak most eloquently for the artist and serve equally well as witnesses to the logic of Diebenkorn's development (as reconstructed by Cathcart). Although his sensibilities have surely changed over the years, I find his openness to the possibilities of painting remarkable. It is particularly this openness, which he has termed his 'negotiations' with painting, that lies near the heart of any appraisal of his work. Throughout her essay Cathcart builds on the apparent paradox of a painter in search of a way to arrive at a method that will best keep the method from dominating his work. The portrait is that of an artist aware of both the need to establish guidelinesand the need to go beyond them, if one is to continue one's development as an artist and a person. How to Draw What You S~. Rudy de Reyna. Watson-Guptill, New York, 1972. 175 pp., illus. $10.95. Drawing the Female Figure. Joseph Sheppard. Watson-Guptill, New York, 1975. 158 pp., illus. $13.95. Drawing the Human Form: Methods/Sources/Concepts: A Guide to Drawing from Life. William A. Berry. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1977. 256 pp., illus. £12.90; paper, £8.30. Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters. Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle. Watson-Guptill, New York, 1977. 271 pp. illus. $18.50. Reviewed by Norman Narotzky** Thesebooks, except for the one by de Reyna that ismore general, deal with the problem of drawing the human figure. The first is a basic instruction book dealing with the problems of representational drawing, as the title indicates. De Reyna begins with the cube, sphere, circular cylinder and cone, and in several chapters includes discussions of perspective and of light and shade for depicting these forms. He then goes on to show how one can draw more complicated objects in terms of these basic forms. Local color and textures are discussed and the technique of drawing with charcoal. Different subjects are then' drawn in this medium, with demonstration drawings explaining the author's method. He finishes the first part of the book with several chapters on drawing the human figure-basic structure, proportions and light and shade. The second part treats different media: wash, gouache, acrylic, ink and mixed media, as applied *404W. Walnut St., Carbondale, IL 62901, U.S.A. **Corcega 196, Barcelona 36, Spain. to outdoor subjects, still life and figures, with step-by-step...