Untitled [female nude lying back with legs out straight] 1955 - 1967

Curator: Looking at Richard Diebenkorn’s "Untitled [female nude lying back with legs out straight]," created sometime between 1955 and 1967, the initial impact is surprisingly raw. Editor: Raw is a good word for it! I see this languid pose, yet the stark black ink against the white feels so unresolved. Like a secret whispered in a crowded room. Curator: The confident lines immediately convey a sense of intimacy. We must acknowledge how Diebenkorn navigates the historical portrayal of the female nude. While he engages with the trope, he also introduces a vulnerability through the visible linework, challenging traditional notions of idealised beauty. Editor: Absolutely! It feels like we're witnessing the act of creation itself, this woman rendered with honesty, not artifice. Her hand casually resting, almost shielding, but not really. I wonder about her gaze… so much left to the imagination. The space surrounding her is so open that she's both the subject and a fleeting thought. Curator: It invites the viewers to question how femininity is represented. He avoids a sanitized or overtly sexualised depiction, instead offering a glimpse into perhaps a private, introspective moment. Consider, too, how his engagement with abstraction complicates the legibility of the figure, blurring boundaries, so to speak. Editor: Right! She’s present but somehow intangible. More sensation than concrete object. Did he leave so much undefined so we could feel into the image? He gives us an impression, a mood. I find myself connecting with her not as a "nude," but as a presence. Curator: And within the social context, it also feels important to understand the development of feminist art. Diebenkorn’s engagement with abstraction in the female figure challenges earlier, objectified portrayals. What we see is very much a representation with purpose. Editor: True. The purposeful and slightly broken composition… a story told without resolution. Leaving us, the viewer, lingering with possibilities. And that to me, makes it more than just a nude study. Curator: Precisely. I appreciate how Diebenkorn pushes the boundaries, prompting reflection on themes of representation, intimacy and female subjectivity. Editor: Me too. I keep coming back to how unfinished it seems, yet how whole the feeling is. It really stays with you.