Untitled [seated nude holding her shoulder] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn sketched this seated nude, holding her shoulder, with graphite on paper. The initial impression is one of deliberate incompleteness; the lines are tentative, searching, capturing the figure with a raw immediacy. The overall composition, characterized by its open and airy quality, invites the viewer to complete the form, engaging us in the very act of perception. Diebenkorn’s structural approach is evident in the way the figure is constructed from a network of lines. These lines don't merely outline but seem to carve out space, defining volume and mass with an economy of means. It challenges traditional notions of beauty and representation. The gaze is directed inward, reflective perhaps, destabilizing conventional codes of the nude in art history. The gestural quality of the drawing embodies a mode of inquiry, where the act of drawing becomes a way of thinking through form. This self-reflexivity invites a re-evaluation of what drawing can be, not just a mimetic exercise but a philosophical exploration.