Untitled [seated nude embracing her crossed legs] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn rendered this ‘Untitled’ drawing of a seated nude, embracing her crossed legs, using graphite on paper. The pose, reminiscent of antiquity, speaks to the enduring human desire to interpret and re-imagine the human form. The gesture of crossed limbs is a recurring motif throughout art history, embodying vulnerability and introspection. We can trace it through the crouching Venus sculptures of ancient Greece to Renaissance depictions of Eve after the Fall, each time imbued with shifting cultural meanings—from modesty to shame. Consider the psychological weight of this self-embracing pose. The figure, enclosed within her own limbs, conveys a sense of self-containment, a universal posture of introspection that touches on our shared human experiences. It resonates as a cyclical return to primordial gestures, echoing through art history in a perpetual dance of memory and reinterpretation.