Untitled [side view of nude with her hand on her hip] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this "Untitled" nude with ink on paper, and what strikes me is the immediacy of it. It’s all about the gesture, that quick capturing of form with a brush that seems to dance across the page. The ink washes create a world of light and shadow. See how he lets the ink bleed and pool, creating these soft, blurry edges? It’s not about precision, but about feeling. Look at the way he defines her torso with these broad, confident strokes, and then contrasts it with the delicate lines that hint at her leg. It’s this constant play between the solid and the ethereal that makes the drawing so alive. The negative space becomes just as important as the figure itself. Diebenkorn had a love for Matisse, and you can see it here, in that same search for simple form and emotional depth. Like Matisse, he shows us that a line, a wash, can be more than just a representation, it can be a feeling, an experience.