Untitled [seated woman resting her chin on her hand] 1955 - 1967

Here, Richard Diebenkorn has captured a seated woman resting her chin on her hand in a simple, understated graphite drawing. What strikes me is the beautiful ambivalence of line, it feels both tentative and confident. There's a real push and pull, areas where the pencil has been applied with such force, it almost pierces the paper, and then other lines that are barely there, just a whisper. The overall effect is one of quiet introspection. Look closely at the place where the head meets the hand, you can feel the pressure, the weight of thought. The materiality is subtle, yet potent. The tooth of the paper grabs the graphite, creating texture. This drawing speaks to the ongoing dialogue between artists across time, echoing the works of Giacometti or even Matisse in its economy of line. It reminds us that art is a conversation, an exploration, and a continuous process of seeing and thinking.