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Exhibition Introduction

Note to the Reader
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Keith
John
Leslie
Self-Portrait

Introduction
Touched Red
Green
Combination
High Green Version 1

Introduction
17 Drawings by Thoreau
Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing)
Changes and Disappearances
Where R=Ryoanji
Fire
The Missing Stone
75 Stones
Eninka
Stones
Where There is Where There

Introduction
Anne Appleby
Pia Fries
Darren Almond
Susan Middleton
Joel Fisher
Brad Brown
Tom Marioni

Introduction
Mamma Andersson
Sol LeWitt
Fred Wilson
Robert Bechtle
Kiki Smith

Introduction
Julie Mehretu
Wayne Thiebaud
Jockum Nordström
Tomma Abts
Nathan Oliveira
Chris Ofili

Introduction
Pat Steir
Laura Owens
Wayne Thiebaud
Amy Sillman

Richard Diebenkorn, Combination, 1981

Richard Diebenkorn, Combination, 1981

Combination (working proof 1)
1981
aquatint in black with chalk additions
plate: 15 1⁄2 × 13 1⁄2 (39.4 × 34.2)
sheet: 30 11⁄16 × 22 (78 × 55.9)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point
Press and the Artist in Honor of the 50th Anniversary
of the National Gallery of Art, 1991
© The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn, Combination, 1981

Combination (working proof 4)
1981
aquatint in black
plate: 15 1⁄2 × 13 1⁄2 (39.4 × 34.2)
sheet: 24 1⁄2 × 21 5⁄8 (62.2 × 54.9)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point
Press and the Artist in Honor of the 50th Anniversary
of the National Gallery of Art, 1991
© The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn, Combination, 1981

Combination (working proof 5)
1981
aquatint and drypoint in black with graphite additions
and pasted-down elements
plate: 15 1⁄2 × 13 1⁄2 (39.4 × 34.2)
sheet: 30 3⁄4 × 21 5⁄8 (78.1 × 54.9)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point
Press and the Artist in Honor of the 50th Anniversary
of the National Gallery of Art, 1991
© The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn, Combination, 1981

Combination (working proof 8)
1981
aquatint and drypoint in black
plate: 15 1⁄2 × 13 1⁄2 (39.4 × 34.2)
sheet: 24 1⁄2 × 26 11⁄16 (62.3 × 67.8)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point
Press and the Artist in Honor of the 50th Anniversary
of the National Gallery of Art, 1991
© The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn, Combination, 1981

Combination (working proof 12)
1981
color spitbite etching, aquatint, and drypoint
plate: 15 1⁄2 × 13 1⁄2 (39.4 × 34.2)
sheet: 24 1⁄4 × 26 5⁄8 (61.6 × 55)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point
Press and the Artist in Honor of the 50th Anniversary
of the National Gallery of Art, 1991
© The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn, Combination, 1981

Combination
1981
color spitbite etching, aquatint, and drypoint
plate: 15 1⁄2 × 13 1⁄2 (39.4 × 34.2)
sheet: 30 13⁄16 × 24 1⁄2 (78.3 × 62)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Joshua P. Smith
Collection, Gift in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the
National Gallery of Art, 1991
© The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn

Combination features a club-spade hybrid. Multiple paper cutouts are pasted onto working proof 5, including a brown one that tests the effect of filling the smaller spade’s left half with color (see below). Another cutout, in white, covers a bulbous protrusion near the top of the club-spade visible in previous working proofs. By pasting over that protrusion, Diebenkorn signaled a decision to cancel it out, giving the club-spade a more streamlined appearance.

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Richard Diebenkorn, Combination (working proof 5), 1981, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point Press and the Artist in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991, © The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn

Banner image: Detail, Richard Diebenkorn, Green (working proof 7), 1986, color spitbite aquatint, soapground aquatint, and drypoint with pasted-down elements, Kathan Brown, © The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn

Next: Richard Diebenkorn, High Green Version 1, 1992

"Yes, No, Maybe: The Art of Making
Decisions," lecture by exhibition curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Julie Mehretu, artist, in conversation with curator Judith Brodie, Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture (audio)

"An Insider's Perspective," lecture by Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press (audio)

Exhibition tour by curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Richard Diebenkorn in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Crown Point Press prints in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Press release