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Richard Diebenkorn, Combination, 1981

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