Untitled [female nude standing in the studio] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this untitled charcoal drawing, of a female nude in the studio, sometime during his career. Diebenkorn was part of a generation of artists who grappled with the legacy of modernism in the post-war era. In this piece, we see a figure rendered with an immediacy that feels both intimate and detached. The woman’s pose and the artist's rendering of her body, confront the historical representation of women in art. There is a sense of the woman’s presence in the space; her gaze seems to meet ours, challenging the traditional dynamic between artist, model, and viewer. The drawing invites us to consider not only the female form, but the complex interplay of looking, seeing, and representing that underlies the act of portraiture. Diebenkorn’s work prompts us to think about how artists engage with the body as a site of meaning and identity.