From the beginning, the most prevalent subjects of Dial’s drawings have been women. His earliest works on paper are sinuous female figures in communion with emblems of nature—birds, egg-filled nests, tigers, and fish. Beginning in the 1990s, he also began to create portraits of real-world women, from the athlete Florence Griffith Joyner (African Athlete) to the scandal-ridden Monica Lewinsky (Monica) to Princess Diana on the day of her funeral (Last Trip Home).
