Richard Diebenkorn
Woman Seated in a Chair
1962
Scroll
Richard Diebenkorn
Woman Seated in a Chair
1962
Physical Qualities
Pen and black ink, Conté crayon, charcoal, and brush and black wash, Sheet: 432 × 352 mm. (17 × 13 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection
Object Number
1970.21.3
Diebenkorn executed many works—drawings, prints, and paintings—focused on a single female figure, often contrasting flat background elements with a dimensional treatment of the body. Here, however, he reverses strategies, drawing the background elements and chair dimensionally, and flattening the figure’s torso on the page, obscuring its shape beneath the patterned dress. Diebenkorn draws from a perspective slightly above the figure, accentuating her downward gaze and folded arms. Her body extends beyond the borders of the page, emphasizing how she reclines and sinks into the chair.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1970; Mr. Edward Benesch, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, "Matisse/Diebenkorn". The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 23, 2016 - January 29, 2017. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, March 11, 2017 - May 29, 2017.
BMA, "Select Views: Drawings from the Benesch Collection," 21 May - 30 July 2006.
BMA, "Major Modern Drawings from the Collection," October 8 - December 18, 1994.
BMA, "Modern Master Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," February 21 - April 30, 1989.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "The Drawings of Richard Diebenkorn," November 17, 1988-November 26, 1989. Venues: MoMA only. Illustrated p. 108.
BMA, "Figure Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," July 21 - September 27, 1987.
Victor Carlson (organized and circulated by the BMA), "19th and 20th Century Prints and Drawings from The Baltimore Museum of Art." E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, November 3 - December 2, 1973; Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, January 18 - February 17, 1974; The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, April 2 - April 21, 1974, cat. 13.
BMA, Contemporary Drawings from the Thomas Edward Benesch Memorial Collection, September 27, 1970 – March 31, 1971.
Stanford University Art Gallery, "Drawings," April 3 - April 26, 1964.
BMA, "Select Views: Drawings from the Benesch Collection," 21 May - 30 July 2006.
BMA, "Major Modern Drawings from the Collection," October 8 - December 18, 1994.
BMA, "Modern Master Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," February 21 - April 30, 1989.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, "The Drawings of Richard Diebenkorn," November 17, 1988-November 26, 1989. Venues: MoMA only. Illustrated p. 108.
BMA, "Figure Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," July 21 - September 27, 1987.
Victor Carlson (organized and circulated by the BMA), "19th and 20th Century Prints and Drawings from The Baltimore Museum of Art." E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, November 3 - December 2, 1973; Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, January 18 - February 17, 1974; The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, April 2 - April 21, 1974, cat. 13.
BMA, Contemporary Drawings from the Thomas Edward Benesch Memorial Collection, September 27, 1970 – March 31, 1971.
Stanford University Art Gallery, "Drawings," April 3 - April 26, 1964.
Diebenkorn, Richard. Drawings by Richard Diebenkorn; Stanford, CA : Dept. of Art & Architecture, Stanford University, 1965, p. 14. Intro. by Lorenz Eitner.
"The Thomas Edward Benesch Memorial Collection," The Baltimore Museum of Art Record, Vol. 1 no. 2, 1970, illust.
Clisby, Roger D. 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings from the Baltimore Museum of Art: Catalogue [of an exhibition held at the E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, November 3 - December 2, 1973, Honolulu Academy of Arts, January 18 - February 17, 1974, and William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, April 2 - April 21, 1974]. [Sacramento, CA]: E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, 1973, cat. no. 13, unpaged.
Elderfield, John. The Drawings of Richard Diebenkorn; New York: The Museum of
Modern Art and Houston Fine Art Press, 1988, p. 108 (ill.).
BMA Today, Spring 2006, ill. p. 7.
Inscribed: lower center in conte crayon: "RD 63"
