Untitled [woman in a hat seated in a garden] 1955 - 1967

Editor: We’re looking at Richard Diebenkorn’s “Untitled [woman in a hat seated in a garden]”, an ink and pen drawing from sometime between 1955 and 1967. It has a wonderfully casual feel, doesn't it? What do you make of it? Curator: Casual indeed. It’s as though we’ve stumbled upon a stolen moment, a fleeting observation. See how the woman is rendered with such simple, confident lines? The scene seems relaxed, even serene. But is it truly that simple? Diebenkorn captures a specific kind of bourgeois Northern Californian lifestyle, right? That post-war ease mixed with existential questioning. Editor: Existential questioning in a pen sketch? Curator: Absolutely. The lines are clean, but the subject's posture, her downturned gaze... there's a weariness there, don’t you think? Or maybe it's contemplation. Look at the composition itself - the flattened perspective, the hints of shapes - it all pushes beyond simple representation. Do you get a sense that we might also be seeing something of the artist in that female figure? Editor: Hmm, I hadn't thought of it that way. I was so focused on the line work. What is it about that sort of sparse technique that’s so affecting? Curator: I think it is that what isn’t shown becomes almost more important than what is. Your imagination gets pulled in. This becomes our drawing too, doesn’t it? Editor: It does, actually. Thanks, I'm seeing it completely differently now! Curator: Exactly. Isn't it beautiful when a piece of art sparks such connections? It’s no longer just Diebenkorn’s woman in the garden; it's a piece of ourselves, too.