Untitled [standing female nude: chest to shin] 1955 - 1967

Curator: The first thing I notice about Richard Diebenkorn’s "Untitled [standing female nude: chest to shin]", created between 1955 and 1967 using pencil on paper, is its remarkable simplicity. Editor: There’s a quiet strength to this piece, a sense of the female form celebrated without artifice. I appreciate how the lack of rigid definition lends to a vulnerability but also an acceptance. Curator: Exactly! Considering Diebenkorn’s career trajectory, it is significant that, after his early experiments with abstraction, he grounded his work in a representational tradition like the nude. And that he used relatively rudimentary tools to do so. Editor: Rudimentary perhaps, but so expressive. Look at the lines; they’re not just outlines but convey weight and volume. The sketch implies a body freed from conventional beauty standards, reflective, perhaps, of a changing perception of the female body during the post-war era. The visible labor of each line feels incredibly deliberate and invites the viewer into a space of unidealized observation. Curator: That’s a very fair point. These quick pencil strokes give us insight into Diebenkorn’s evolving process. The focus is so clearly on the line itself and its inherent expressive ability. It really allows us to appreciate how the artistic intent transforms a utilitarian instrument into one capable of capturing such nuance. Editor: It definitely shifts the discourse. Where a contemporary might only see “pencil on paper,” one might engage it on a critical level: here we see a figure defying conventional art-historical narratives that render the female form simply as a consumable object of male desire. The body presented is a more lived-in figure. Curator: Precisely. Even the choice of such an intimate subject reveals the way Diebenkorn grappled with and ultimately challenged established traditions, using ordinary materials. It is, at once, about the figure itself and also the physical process. Editor: For me, this artwork embodies a conversation about perception, societal expectations, and ultimately, an invitation to engage with a more authentic portrayal. Curator: And for me, a striking demonstration of the transformative power inherent in everyday materials. Editor: Indeed, a poignant interplay.