Untitled [reclining nude covering her face with her arm] 1955 - 1967

Curator: This ink drawing by Richard Diebenkorn, made sometime between 1955 and 1967, is simply titled "Untitled [reclining nude covering her face with her arm]". Editor: My first thought is…vulnerability. That arm shielding the face makes me wonder what story, what moment, it’s capturing. Curator: Absolutely. Diebenkorn uses such minimal lines, yet there’s a palpable emotional weight. The choice of ink as a medium is quite interesting, lending a stark immediacy to the figure's pose. It's just ink on paper but in Abstract Expressionism that is a bold step away from traditional painting towards labor and working class esthetics Editor: Exactly, it feels raw, unfiltered, and yet there's an elegant understanding of form. You mentioned the starkness, and I'm curious about its connection to the time period. Those mid-century anxieties, the pressures on women. Do you think that plays a role here? Curator: I think that's astute, it's very hard for male artists of this time to leave their time behind! The implied narrative could certainly reflect some of those anxieties. But he’s so good to do it in very minimal strokes. The lines almost disappear and yet their movement create something quite striking and real. Editor: And the medium—the directness of ink—speaks volumes about the artist's process, doesn't it? Curator: It’s very intimate! To chose ink is to make no mistake and reveal everything. It signals a willingness to leave the safe constraints of formal figuration but the very clear and defined outlines also reveal an intention of order! This nude is no anonymous muse: its author and their making decisions at the level of visibility of ink’s material. Editor: Well, looking at the paper’s edge now makes me feel like seeing the whole person of the maker involved. It almost creates its own form and narrative. Curator: Precisely. And thinking about Diebenkorn's overall body of work, how he grappled with abstraction and figuration throughout his career makes it so profound. This seemingly simple drawing embodies the constant friction between representation and expression and, the constraints and labor involved in artistic visibility. Editor: What a superb way to approach a seemingly 'simple' image! Thank you for changing my approach about its narrative too!