i half shut

Head of a Woman II, 1960 by Richard Diebenkorn SFMOMA

Diebenkorn: “As a work progresses, its power to elicit and dictate response mounts. There seems to be an optimum moment when this power is at its greatest which just precedes the point where ‘elicit’ is no longer apt usage. ‘Dictates’ is the word for this condition and tyranny is the adversary.”