In the 1950s American painter Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993) took a dramatic turn away from his early work, exploring new vocabularies of both abstract and representational styles, which would come to be known as the artist’s “Berkeley period.” This era has long been recognized as one of the most interesting chapters in postwar American art, yielding many of Diebenkorn’s best-known works.

Richard Diebenkorn: The Berkeley Years, 1953–1966 examines Diebenkorn’s process and output during this decisive period. Three original essays explore the artist’s evolving conceptions of abstraction and representation, emphasizing the interrelationships between the abstract paintings and drawi...