Waves Spilling Over Rocks

ClassificationsPaintings-watercolors

Artist Phil Dike (American, 1906 - 1990)

Datec. 1976

Made AtCalifornia, United States, North America

Place DepictedCalifornia, United States, North America

MediumWatercolor on paper

DimensionsApproximately: 17 1/8 × 23 1/4 in. (43.5 × 59.1 cm)
Framed: 27 5/8 × 33 5/8 × 1 1/8 in. (70.2 × 85.4 × 2.9 cm)

Credit LineAnn and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection

Object number2018.6.6

DescriptionPhil Dike was born in Southern California and studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute. He was one of the first artists to develop California Style of watercolor painting. After the Second World War Dike’s paintings evolved into a more modern style, and he started to integrate geometric abstract ideas while adopting calligraphy into his work. Some of his common features in his era of abstract watercolor art included harbors, driftwood, figures on the beach and dramatic rock formations the last of which can be found in his painting Waves Spilling Over Rocks. As his work became more abstract, Dike continued to explore the subject of the ocean, its characteristics, and the relationship humans had to the ocean. It was also during this time that Dike started to communicate his feelings with subtle bands of color. The colors in the background of Waves Spilling Over Rocks suggest that it is sunset during a cloud Californian day, while the style suggests it was painted in the second half of Dike’s career.

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