Untitled [standing nude raising her right arm] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn created this untitled charcoal drawing on paper, depicting a standing nude with her right arm raised. The texture and tone, achieved through dense, linear strokes, create a sense of volume and weight. The body emerges from the stark white background, not through precise contour, but through the accumulation of marks that vary in pressure and direction. Diebenkorn uses the nude figure as a vehicle to explore the formal properties of line and shape. The arm is not so much raised as it is suggested, implied, and integrated into the overall composition. The semiotic system at play here involves the relationship between the signifier, in this case the charcoal strokes, and the signified, the human form. Ultimately, this work functions as a meditation on the act of seeing and representing. The unfinished quality challenges our understanding of the figure, highlighting the interplay between representation and abstraction.