Untitled [female nude on hands and knees] 1955 - 1967

Editor: Here we have Richard Diebenkorn’s “Untitled [female nude on hands and knees],” a pencil drawing created sometime between 1955 and 1967. There's a raw energy in the sketch-like quality, focusing on the figure's pose. What do you see when you look at it? Curator: I see the process of creation laid bare. Look at the frenetic energy embedded in the repeated pencil strokes. It reveals Diebenkorn's engagement with the materiality of drawing, particularly how a common medium like pencil and paper can challenge the preciousness associated with "high art." Consider also the period, mid-century America; how might the mass production of drawing materials impact his artistic choices and approach to figuration? Editor: That's interesting. I was so focused on the figure, but you're right. The roughness of the pencil work, it doesn’t feel academic. How does that tension between subject and material affect its message? Curator: Precisely. He is using cheap supplies to represent the body. Ask yourself how the commodification of art supplies impacts the accessibility and the act of artmaking. It's a departure from idealized forms and a direct connection to the body itself, the artist's and the subject's. Editor: I never considered the socio-economic implications within a drawing like this. I was thinking more in terms of the figure as representation rather than process. Curator: It’s all intertwined. The economic structures impact every aspect of the process, including representation and mark making. Consider how other consumer items might be deployed artistically and critically during the period. What statement might an artist make through them? Editor: That makes me think differently about the possibilities within art - how materials carry stories and react to larger contexts. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure, viewing art with a lens focused on material, production and consumption can reveal previously obscured levels of meaning.