Untitled [squatting nude with her hands on her hips] [recto] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn created this ink drawing of a squatting nude figure, with her hands confidently placed on her hips. The squatting pose, often seen in ancient fertility figures, embodies primal energy. This gesture, with hands on hips, echoes across millennia, from ancient figurines to modern expressions of defiance. Think of the Venus pudica, modestly covering herself, versus this figure, boldly exposed. Here, the pose becomes less about modesty and more about asserting a powerful, unadorned presence. It recalls images of women in antiquity, in ancient Minoan art for example, expressing female strength and self-assuredness. This simple stance becomes an emblem of the enduring, cyclical nature of human expression, echoing through time and evolving with each new interpretation. A visual echo resonating with the collective unconscious, a gesture reborn.