Untitled [seated female nude posing in an interior] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn created this ink drawing of a seated nude, capturing a timeless theme of artistic expression. The motif of the reclining nude has long been an exploration of form, beauty, and human vulnerability. Consider Titian’s Venus of Urbino, or Ingres’s Odalisque; Diebenkorn’s treatment carries echoes of both, filtered through a modernist lens. In those earlier works, the female form represented idealized beauty. Here, the stark, unadorned rendering brings a raw, psychological intensity. The sitter's pose, though relaxed, conveys a sense of introspection, perhaps even melancholy. We see the persistence of symbols, like a river carving new paths through familiar terrain. The female nude continually resurfaces, transformed by the anxieties, desires, and aesthetic sensibilities of each new age. Each artist, knowingly or not, summons ghosts of the past, engaging in an ongoing dialogue that enriches our understanding of art and ourselves.