The American painter Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) was a member of the California school of abstract expressionism. His paintings move back and forth between representational and nonrepresentational imagery in his quest to translate his visual experience into painterly form.

Richard Clifford Diebenkorn, Jr. was born in Portland, Oregon, on April 22, 1922. Two years later his father, a sales executive, moved the family to San Francisco. Diebenkorn was particularly close to his grandmother, Florence Stephens, who supported his artistic interests and encouraged him to paint. She also stimulated his imagination with gifts of books illustrated by Howard Pyle and N. C. Wyeth.

In 1940 Diebenkorn enrolled at Stanford University. His father hoped that Stanford might lead his son to a more respectable career in medicine or law. Although Diebenkorn majored in art at Stanford, he also took courses in music, literature, and history. His teacher, Daniel Mendelowitz, took him to visit Sarah...