Post Palmer Museum Post

Man and Woman Seated
Richard Diebenkorn

1958

Oil on canvas

This focal point of the piece are the two people seated in the center of the canvas. Diebenkorn puts emphasis on the subject by placing them in the middle of a vast, empty room. This seems to create a sense of isolation within the piece, which is a major theme of many of Edward Hopper's artworks who was a major influence on Diebenkorn.

Diebenkorn masterfully uses color to enhance the artwork. The use of dull colors in the background, especially the gray on the back wall, helps make the two individuals stand out even more in the foreground. He places the man and woman in a very vibrant, but tumultuous orange. This orange reminds me of the famous painting The Scream, by Edward Munch.

The Scream

Edvard Munch

1895

Oil, tempera, and pastel on cardboard

Man and Woman Seated was released in the middle of the Cold War, just 5 years after the Korean War had ended. It was released during the height of an abstract-expressionist art movement that was occurring at the time. Other artists involved with the movement were Jackson Pollock and William de Kooning. This particular piece was one of Diebenkorn's more representional and realistic works. During this period of his career, he was having difficulties with the "abstract" medium, saying that he needed to take a departure from the "shackles of this stylistic approach." He started to believe that art needed to depict people and real living things in order to be effective.

I really enjoyed this piece of art. The scene that it depicts is very interesting and the way that Diebenkorn creates this sense of unease and isolation throughout the piece is remarkable. The piece  has a sort of tension about it; the feeling that something isn't right between the two people seated in middle of this room is really powerful.

Diebenkorn tries to show the art world that complete abstraction of art is not necessarily the way to go. Most of his other work up to this point were abstractions of landscapes, it was only around 1958 that Diebenkorn started to use people as subjects for his artwork.

I enjoyed my first time at the Palmer Art Museum. I don't go to museums too often , but I usually have a good time when I do go. I think I would go back. There seems to be a lot going on at the Palmer Museum a lot of the time. Like the while we were there, there was a discussion about one of the pieces in the museum and there were a lot of art students walking around taking notes.