Untitled [female nude with right leg on chair] 1955 - 1967

Curator: Let’s discuss Richard Diebenkorn’s "Untitled [female nude with right leg on chair]," an ink drawing created sometime between 1955 and 1967. Editor: It has a raw and honest feel. The simplicity of the line emphasizes the contours and the gestural quality evokes a sense of immediacy. I want to know about the ink and the paper itself. Curator: Note the economy of line, creating form and volume with minimal means. The use of negative space becomes as crucial as the drawn lines, participating in defining the figure. Editor: Indeed. It seems that a minimal approach highlights the nature of the support used for the work; the smooth, cream-colored background almost softens the blunt, quick markings. I imagine that the artist appreciated a support with minimal texture to make it easier for the ink to settle on its surface. Curator: Think about the planar construction within the figure, particularly in the way Diebenkorn models the back and shoulder. It is reminiscent of certain cubist approaches where forms are broken down and reassembled to create a sense of depth and perspective. Editor: How interesting it is that such simple materials of production – ink, paper – provide access into complex systems such as planar construction! It prompts me to think more broadly about how value and worth gets ascribed to certain materials while others are ignored. Curator: The open-ended composition encourages an ongoing interaction and participation with the form. Editor: What strikes me most is how, even in its seeming incompleteness, this drawing offers a sincere meditation on labor, form and the quiet energy found when the two engage. Curator: Thank you. With careful observation and analytical attention, Diebenkorn has opened a path into aesthetic discovery. Editor: I agree, by seeing the simple lines that render it we can better question the social life that animates art as a whole.