Untitled [nude with her arms raised] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this untitled nude with her arms raised, using ink on paper. The immediate impression is one of starkness—black ink sharply contrasted against the white ground. Diebenkorn uses quick, gestural lines to define the figure, but it's the negative space that really shapes our understanding of the form. The composition is far from traditional. Limbs are suggested, not fully rendered, creating a sense of movement and incompleteness. Diebenkorn challenges our expectations of the nude, focusing less on anatomical precision and more on the dynamic interplay of line and form. The raised arms create large, looping shapes that frame the head, drawing our eyes upward. This work destabilizes the classical ideal of the static, idealized nude. It’s a study in process and perception, where the artist's hand is evident in every stroke. It's within this tension between representation and abstraction that the drawing finds its power, urging us to reconsider how we perceive the human form.