Untitled [side view of seated female nude with a detail of head] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this "Untitled" drawing with charcoal on paper. The image is dominated by stark lines and a monochromatic palette, presenting a seated female nude alongside a detail of her head. Diebenkorn uses line to define form, yet the sketch remains open, incomplete. The semiotic here lies in what's omitted: facelessness and fragmentation suggest a destabilization of identity. We are not presented with a whole person, but rather a collection of lines gesturing towards form. This approach mirrors the post-structuralist idea that meaning is not inherent but constructed. The composition challenges traditional representation. Diebenkorn seems to be less interested in capturing likeness and more in exploring the abstract qualities of the human form. It is in this tension between representation and abstraction that Diebenkorn's work operates, prompting us to question the very nature of seeing.