Untitled [female nude leaning over garment bag] 1955 - 1967

Curator: Looking at this pencil drawing by Richard Diebenkorn, created sometime between 1955 and 1967, titled "Untitled [female nude leaning over garment bag]", one immediately sees the artist's confident line. What strikes you first? Editor: Well, before knowing the title, it felt more like an unfolding secret, you know? That bag looks like she’s rummaging for another skin to wear or maybe about to shed one. There's a beautiful, slightly melancholic vulnerability about the woman's posture. Curator: Indeed. This drawing offers us a window into Diebenkorn's explorations of the human form. He was known to draw from life, focusing intently on his model’s form and structure. Considering the post-war period, there was a strong movement in California figuration focusing on returning to realism after a period of more aggressive abstraction, even while still embracing modernist lessons about surface. Editor: Right. It’s fascinating how he distills so much presence with such simple strokes. Like she's emerging from the page itself. Do you get a sense of her agency or are we voyeurs, looking in on something intensely private? Curator: The pose implies she is completely unaware of our gaze, engrossed in her actions; her identity obscured enhances this intimate feel, while fitting perfectly into an older art historical genre of portraying anonymous women in states of undress. Editor: True. It's like that quick breath before diving back into daily life. Thanks, Richard, for giving us the chance to pause with her. Curator: Ultimately, the artist has presented an intimate portrayal using a classical subject rendered with gestural mark making to express interiority and physical presence. A reminder that art is as much about the unseen as it is about the seen.