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75 Reasons to Live: Robert Bechtle on Richard Diebenkorn’s Coffee

Artist Robert Bechtle reminisces about how the structure and subject matter of Richard Diebenkorn's paintings influenced his own very different work. On Diebenkorn's Coffee (1959): “An artist looks at those hands and says, 'That guy knows how to paint hands, but he's not trying to prove it to you. They're doing what they need to do to get that coffee cup up to her lips, and that's it.' “Remember the end of Manhattan, when Woody Allen asks himself what makes life worth living? In January 2010, during SFMOMA's three-day 75th anniversary celebration, 75 people from the Bay Area creative community gave extremely short talks — 7.5 minutes or less! — on a single collection work of their choosing. Someone called it “manic splendor“ — and it was. You can view all of the talks on The Anniversary Show exhibition page. Or look for them here, on Open Space.

75 Reasons to Live
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