Untitled [standing female nude crossed arms and turning away] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this untitled drawing of a standing female nude with charcoal on paper. Diebenkorn lived and worked during a period of significant shifts in cultural attitudes towards the representation of the human body. Made sometime during his career, this sketch of a nude figure departs from traditional academic nudes in its fragmented form and somewhat abject pose. The woman’s body is not idealized; rather, its stark lines suggest vulnerability. It is useful to think about the history of the nude as an institutional genre, particularly in the context of art schools that historically perpetuated a male gaze. How does Diebenkorn challenge this history? To explore such questions, we can look at the visual culture of postwar America; we can research the history of art academies and the politics of gender at the time. Only through an analysis of the drawing's social and institutional context can we grasp its full meaning and significance.