Untitled [seated female nude with her elbows raised behind her]
1955-1967
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
brush and black ink on calendered paper
Dimensions
overall: 40.6 x 27.8 cm (16 x 10 15/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Phyllis Diebenkorn
Accession Number
2000.141.82
Art Historical Context
Richard Diebenkorn's *Untitled [seated female with her elbows raised behind her]* (1955–1967) captures the artist's deep fascination with the human form during his Bay Area Figurative period. After experimenting with Abstract Expressionism in the early 1950s, Diebenkorn returned to representational art, drawing inspiration from the California landscape and intimate studio subjects like this poised nude. The work, a gift from his wife Phyllis Diebenkorn to the National Gallery of Art, exemplifies his shift toward bold, gestural figuration that balanced abstraction and realism. Rendered in brus...
About the Artist
Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Clifford Diebenkorn Jr. (1922-1993) was one of the premier American painters of the postwar era, whose deeply lyrical abstractions and figurative works evoked the shimmering light and wide-open spaces of California. Born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in San Francisco, Diebenkorn became a pivotal figure in elevating the status of California art on the international stage. His career encom...