Richard Diebenkorn's Sausalito series, created between 1946 and 1949, marks an influential period in the artist's early career, reflecting a time of intense experimentation and development. During this period, Diebenkorn lived and worked in Sausalito, California, a location that provided a unique setting for his evolving artistic practice.
This era in Diebenkorn's career was characterized by a deep engagement with abstract expressionism, influenced by his exposure to the work of Picasso, Matisse, and Miró, as well as his interactions with New York artists and exhibitions. Despite his desire to be in New York, a sentiment shared by his wife Phyllis, Diebenkorn found the isolation and different environment of Sausalito conducive to his work, allowing him to paint "from dawn till dark" (Richard Diebenkorn Foundation).
Diebenkorn's work from this time demonstrates a commitment to oil painting, while also exploring watercolors, collages, drawing, and even bits of sculpture. He was driven by the challenges he faced and the solutions he found to them, attributing a significant portion of his development to the fresh environment and the artistic community he engaged with, both in Sausalito and during his travels to New York and Woodstock (Richard Diebenkorn Foundation).
In 1947, Diebenkorn entered a mature phase of his career, despite the challenges of working in a small, snowbound environment in Woodstock before returning to the Bay Area. His work during this period was marked by small, Cubist-inspired panels, a testament to his experimentation with color and form, influenced by his studies and the artistic circles he engaged with, including notable artists like Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko (Richard Diebenkorn Foundation).
Diebenkorn's time in Sausalito was also a period of social and professional networking, where he connected deeply with the local art community, including artists like Hassel Smith and the more established Elmer Bischoff and David Park. This circle of artists would frequently meet, critique each other's work, and discuss art, contributing significantly to Diebenkorn's artistic development and to the vibrant post-war art scene in the Bay Area (Richard Diebenkorn Foundation).
The Sausalito series is thus reflective of Diebenkorn's early abstract work, characterized by a deep exploration of color, form, and the abstract expressionist style that would come to define his later work. His time in Sausalito was not just a phase of artistic output but a foundational period that shaped his approach to painting and his career trajectory (Van Doren Waxter).