"The work of Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) alternates between his two distinct and mutually masterful modes: the figurative and the abstract. Collected here for the first time are rarely seen and largely unpublished figurative drawings and paintings on paper which represent a period of exploration and innovation." "Dating from roughly the mid-nineteen fifties to the late sixties, these fully developed and important works do more than just illuminate Diebenkorn's mastery of the representational. Preceding, as they do, his famed Ocean Park era, they also highlight the influence of his figurative gifts on his wellknown abstract work." "Published in conjunction with John Berggruen Gallery, who first mounted a major exhibition of these pieces, this revealing collection features forty-two drawings, paintings, and gouaches, accompanied by an introduction by John McEnroe and essays by Barnaby Conrad III and Jane Livingston. Beautifully reproduced on the page, Richard Diebenkorn: Figurative Works on Paper fills a key gap in the literature of this premier American artist."--Jacket.