MOCA Fetes Diebenkorn

The Scene: First of three opening events for “Richard Diebenkorn,� a major retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Wednesday night. This was the reception for trustees, upper-level donors and lenders to the exhibition, including Lenore and Bernard Greenberg, Richard and Dee Sherwood, Nancy Epstein, Dorothy Blankfort and Jack and Marion Shea. The exhibition had been to London, Madrid and Frankfort before coming to MOCA.

The Bias: To many, 70-year-old Diebenkorn is the ultimate California artist: He divided his life between the San Francisco Bay area and Santa Monica. Angelenos are routinely partial to his “Ocean Park� abstracts. Nevertheless, to the rest of the world, he’s still considered a “New York artist� because his major exhibitions and dealers were there, said Fred Nicholas, chairman of MOCA’s board of trustees.

The Hot Topic: The presence of Michael Shapiro, newly appointed director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, who had received an invitation from MOCA director Richard Koshalek and car-pooled with the Sherwoods. Not surprisingly, just about everyone in the art-savvy crowd was as anxious to shake his hand as to shake Diebenkorn’s.

Quoted: “I told him I’d heard nothing but good things about him and I was sure that’s all I’d hear about him for the next month, but after that watch out,� said Doug Cramer, president of MOCA’s board, of his conversation with Shapiro.

Mutual Admiration Society: L.A. artists Ed Ruscha, Billy Al Bengston, Ed Moses and David Hockney stopped by to pay their respects to Diebenkorn. Robert Graham handed him a small wood box. “He always gives me Cuban cigars,� explained Diebenkorn, “but I’ve been off cigars for a long, long time, and when he handed me this box I said, ‘I don’t do this anymore.’ And he said, ‘It’s not cigars.’ � The cigar box contained one of Graham’s small female torsos.

The Chow: Guests could graze on such healthfully correct fare as fresh grilled ahi Nicoise salad, smoked Norwegian salmon and smoked chicken focaccio or they could load up in high-fat style on warm chocolate fudge pudding with creme anglaise , chocolate macaroons, butter cookies and lemon bars.