Untitled [seated nude female model leaning on stool] 1955 - 1967

This is a drawing by Richard Diebenkorn, an artist known for his abstract and figurative paintings, made with charcoal on paper. It's like Diebenkorn is feeling his way through the subject, right? He searches for the form, allowing the figure to emerge from a network of lines, erasures, and corrections. The marks here are tentative, almost exploratory, and it feels like he's really trying to understand the weight and volume of the model. It's not about perfection; it’s about the process of seeing and translating that vision onto paper. I can imagine him stepping back, squinting, then diving back in, trying to get it just right. These charcoal lines aren't just descriptive; they're expressive, revealing the artist’s thinking process. I think Diebenkorn is in conversation with other artists who explore the human form, but he brings his own sensibility to it, a kind of quiet intensity. And for us as viewers, that means a space for interpretation that’s alive with possibilities.