Untitled [standing nude reaching down to adjust her stocking] 1955 - 1967

Curator: This is Richard Diebenkorn's "Untitled [standing nude reaching down to adjust her stocking]," created sometime between 1955 and 1967 using ink. Editor: The starkness of the lines is what strikes me first. There's something vulnerable, yet powerful, about this depiction. How do you interpret this work, particularly within the context of its time? Curator: It’s precisely that tension which interests me. Consider the period. Post-war America saw a reassertion of traditional gender roles, yet also a burgeoning feminist consciousness. Diebenkorn, by focusing on the everyday act of adjusting a stocking, a small detail, perhaps, avoids idealization. This is not a goddess, but a woman in a private moment, rendered with an almost detached gaze. Does that resonate with your understanding of representation of women from the period? Editor: It does, it pushes against those highly sexualized Mad Men-era images we often see. But is it necessarily feminist? Or just...observational? Curator: That's the key question, isn’t it? Does the lack of romanticization, the focus on the mundane, inherently subvert the male gaze? Or does it simply offer another perspective within it? Perhaps by not overtly objectifying, it opens a space for a more complex dialogue about female experience. Editor: I hadn't considered that possibility. Thinking about it as less of an overt statement, and more as a quiet disruption of the norm makes it more nuanced. Curator: Exactly. Art isn’t always about grand declarations, but also about subtle shifts in perception. It reflects ongoing socio-political conversation and its influence in Diebenkorn’s art. Editor: I see the drawing in a completely new light now, thanks for offering different lenses. Curator: And thank you, for bringing the perspective of a contemporary audience to this ongoing conversation.