Untitled [female nude with arm raised to eyes] 1955 - 1967

Curator: We are looking at a drawing by Richard Diebenkorn, likely created sometime between 1955 and 1967. It’s titled "Untitled [female nude with arm raised to eyes]". Editor: It looks gestural and unfinished, almost melancholic. There’s something tentative in the way the lines describe the figure. You can almost feel the pressure of the pencil on the page. Curator: Exactly. Diebenkorn was a central figure in the Bay Area Figurative Movement. While connected to abstract expressionism, he embraced the human form and recognizable subjects. We can trace this approach back to a desire to reinvest artmaking with narrative and tangible connection, which moves from abstraction and towards concrete meaning. Editor: Considering its origin, I wonder about the paper itself. It looks almost like newsprint, and that raw, readily available material pushes against notions of high art. Is there any information about its sourcing? The choice certainly tempers any academic feel; that very directness underscores its immediacy. Curator: Sadly, we don't know specifics about this piece’s materiality; however, such readily available and easily affordable materials reflect both resourcefulness and practicality. In some lights, that bold contour is not just descriptive. It suggests something more vulnerable… like she's shielding herself, emotionally, from the world. Editor: Absolutely, the rawness complements the subject’s pose. The pose conveys both exhaustion and the intimate labor of reflection. How do you see the artist’s own labor reflected? Does that repetition serve a structural purpose as well, beyond mere outlining? Curator: I believe it’s both additive and subtractive. Diebenkorn uses these repetitions to create dimensionality; while the line itself suggests that shielding is indeed about this figure defending an interior space. She isn't presenting herself for our consumption. Her averted gaze forces introspection. Editor: So, by working within a medium that encourages correction and reinvention, this work speaks to both protection and revelation. How interesting to consider! Curator: The symbolism deepens through material reality and representation. Perhaps we have an image of personal struggle. Editor: Right—a physical process mirroring an emotional one, where process gives symbolic weight.