Untitled [seated nude leaning her head on her left hand] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this untitled drawing of a seated nude, sometime in the twentieth century, with graphite on paper. The lines are so delicate, it looks as though he's barely touching the page. I love how Diebenkorn lets us see his working process, each mark mapping the body, a little like following a train of thought. Check out the hands, see how they’re described with just a few lines, capturing the angle of the joints. The line that defines her thigh is so faint it could almost be a shadow, yet it does so much work, describing the shape of the leg. This reminds me of Matisse's drawings where a single line can suggest a whole world of form and space. Just like in Diebenkorn’s later paintings, there’s a constant push and pull between abstraction and figuration, leaving plenty of room for our own interpretations.