Untitled [relining nude reaching with her left arm] 1955 - 1967

Curator: This is an untitled pencil drawing by Richard Diebenkorn, created sometime between 1955 and 1967. The work features a nude figure. Editor: It's such a raw sketch. The immediate impact is one of intimacy. You can almost feel the texture of the paper and the movement of the pencil. Curator: The figure's pose is quite dynamic, isn't it? The way she reaches out creates a tension, a sense of longing perhaps. Editor: It’s also an interesting look at process, no? Diebenkorn uses these layered lines and areas of shading to define volume without using a fully refined treatment of the figure’s contours. Look how he quickly implies the rumpled bedsheets with those fast gestural lines. The subject isn’t perfect or idealized. There is labor there. Curator: Absolutely, and in terms of reception, nude drawings, even relatively modest ones like this, often played a role in artists grappling with and commenting on prevailing societal attitudes toward the human body and representation during that time. Editor: And those pencil marks – you can see the graphite reflecting light, it becomes a part of the piece, almost an active participant. It reminds you of the hand that made it. It is there, raw on the surface. Curator: Thinking about the period, mid-century modernism was in full swing. One could view a drawing like this within conversations exploring what it meant to create a contemporary representation of the figure that acknowledged the legacies of artists like Matisse or Picasso. Editor: I find that very much embodied in the casual and not overtly “artful” way it’s been done – almost mass production of drawing for Diebenkorn, this exploration through graphite smudges. Curator: A powerful insight indeed. The context gives added weight to that material presence, shaping the experience of viewing the work today. Editor: Definitely something about its physical creation adds so much emotion, something real, to this art.