Untitled [woman seated with her leg over the chair arm] 1955 - 1967

Curator: What strikes me immediately is the pose, a kind of languid exhaustion, rendered in stark charcoal. It’s remarkably intimate. Editor: Indeed. This charcoal drawing, simply titled "Untitled [woman seated with her leg over the chair arm]," comes to us from the hand of Richard Diebenkorn, likely executed sometime between 1955 and 1967. Curator: The economy of line is superb. Diebenkorn captures weight and form with what appears to be effortless simplicity. It walks the line between observation and pure abstraction, the negative space being just as activated as the figure itself. Note how certain contours fade in and out. Editor: And the cultural context surrounding figuration at the time cannot be ignored. Diebenkorn, primarily known for abstraction, produces representational works. The rise of second-wave feminism in this period also made the image of a female form into the discourse around self-ownership and visual rhetoric. The woman is presented as a naturalistic model to promote and provoke conversations around societal perception. Curator: That contrast is vital to note here—the cultural associations are always shifting with new meanings projected back upon previous styles, themes and motifs. It's evident even in Diebenkorn's choice of media: humble charcoal allows for a quick, yet profound, investigation of the figure's planes. A sustained, analytical study, beyond superficial resemblances. Editor: And to view this piece in connection to its time offers rich opportunity for discussion of its status and visibility as art within the socio-economic, institutional matrix that Diebenkorn and others negotiated. In some respects it looks to be a candid domestic portrayal, at least in an artist's hands. Curator: I agree, there’s a tension, a lovely friction. And the lack of adornment adds to its timeless quality. Editor: A valuable lesson in appreciating both what's within the frame and the forces which placed it there to begin with.