Untitled [side view of standing female nude with arm and leg raised] 1955 - 1967

Curator: I am struck by the vulnerability captured in the lines of Richard Diebenkorn’s "Untitled [side view of standing female nude with arm and leg raised]," created between 1955 and 1967 using ink on what appears to be wove paper. Editor: Yes, vulnerable, but there's also a strength there, a defiant curve to the spine. The pose itself seems to challenge you, or at least, acknowledge your gaze directly without flinching. You know? Like she knows she's being watched but decides it's her story anyway. Curator: The reduction to essentials, this almost diagrammatic approach, it pulls the eye directly to the formal qualities. Notice how the economy of line somehow defines volume, implying mass without resorting to shadow or shading. It’s remarkably efficient. Editor: It's more than efficient, it's... knowing. Like, Diebenkorn isn't just showing us a body; he's letting us into a private moment of self-awareness. Or maybe even the anticipation of a dance move. It feels so incredibly poised and light. I imagine I could make the same curve of line, and not get the same… gravity. Curator: Gravity, yes, and yet there is lightness, almost a fleeting quality. It's an interesting duality, this solid form created with such fragile strokes of ink. The figure's inherent groundedness and weight—conveyed using materials possessing no density to speak of! Editor: Exactly! That little lift of the leg... it's a whisper of rebellion against the gravity we just talked about. It's like she is deciding to change the world, starting with her right leg. The way she has placed her left hand and rested on her arm, almost holding her head? I imagine the weight there as very physical, humanizing her a lot, as much as this ink figure lets one. Curator: Well put. To circle back to the structure, observe how the negative space actively contributes to the composition—the angles and planes it forms around the figure help emphasize her own contours. We have to recognize these subtle choices made in an economy of gestures, in order to appreciate the final drawing’s holistic form. Editor: I’ll take your word for it. But even when you step away from the careful deconstruction and look back, it’s as a whole being, solid and, as it seems to me, making the leap to another reality through movement. Like she may just walk right off the paper. A powerful trick, the way line dictates so much movement in space! Curator: A potent demonstration of formalism at its best, in my view. I will certainly revisit this artwork with fresh eyes after our dialogue. Editor: Yes! And for me? I’ll make a mental note that it sometimes doesn’t hurt to see structure alongside the spirit of the artwork.