Ernest Dieringer, a well-respected abstract painter, died peacefully at his home in Redding on Friday June 17. Born in Chicago in 1932, Ernie (as he was known) showed his talents early and won a scholarship to the Chicago Art Institute, where among his fellow students were Robert Indiana, Robert Natkin, and the sculptor John Chamberlin.
With Natkin, Judith Dolnick, and others, Dieringer helped found the artist’s cooperative 
Wells Street Gallery that exhibited their work from 1957 to 1959. Coming to New York in 1960 with his wife, Beverly, a fabric artist and craftswoman, Ernie was exhibited by the distinguished gallerist Ellie Poindexter in six one-man shows beginning in 1962. In 1964 the noted critic Clement Greenberg selected Dieringer for the seminal national traveling exhibition “Post-Painterly Abstraction.”  Along with major private collections, Dieringer’s works are owned by the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
    The Dieringers moved to Redding in 1970 with their three daughters, Anna, Eva, and Joan, living first on Lonetown Road and then for many years on Sport Hill Road before moving to Redding Road. 
    In addition to his painting career, Dieringer was also a master photo retoucher whose skills were in constant demand by such photographers as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and the art directors of the leading fashion magazines, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and others. 
    Like many artists, Dieringer was interested in other art forms, including, in his case, the pure, monochromatic sculptural beauty of white ironstone china. Ernie and Beverly began collecting ironstone pieces even in their poor art student days, when at a Chicago charity shop they could find huge platters for as little as 25 cents. In 1993, at a meeting of dealers and other collectors, the Dieringers helped found the White Ironstone China Association and for a number of years afterward they produced a quarterly newsletter for WICA. In 2001, Schiffer Books published their definitive plate identification guide and in 2011 they were guests on Martha Stewart’s television program, a You Tube video of which can still be seen.
Ernie is survived by his wife Beverly of 56 years, his daughter Joan fox and son-in-law Michael Fox, Eva Ferguson and son-in-law Scott Ferguson, Anna Boyle and son-in-law Tom Boyle and one grandson Joseph Ferguson

    A celebration of Ernie Dieringer’s life will be held at 1 PM on Sunday June 26 at the family home 718 Redding Road, Redding, CT 06896. The family kindly asks that donations be made to regional hospice in lieu of flowers.

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