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

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated nude with graphite on paper. The drawing is all tentative lines. Look at the way he’s constructed her pose, with her head leaning on her hand. I imagine him circling the pose, trying to get the angle and weight just right. Those lines feel both searching and sure. It reminds me of my own struggles to capture a figure in space. I wonder if he was thinking of Matisse? There’s a similar ease and confidence in the line, even as it remains open and unresolved. Diebenkorn was always in conversation with the artists who came before, absorbing their lessons and pushing them in new directions. This drawing, like all drawings, embraces ambiguity and uncertainty. It invites us to participate in the act of seeing, to complete the image in our own minds. And that’s what makes it so alive.