Untitled [seated woman with hands in lap] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated woman with charcoal on paper. The woman's pose, hands in her lap, evokes patience and a sense of waiting, doesn't it? Imagine Diebenkorn, charcoal in hand, circling his subject, trying to capture something essential about her presence. See how the lines are tentative, searching, almost like he's feeling his way around her form. I wonder what he was thinking about as he made this? Maybe he was thinking about Matisse, another painter who loved to draw women in interiors. Or maybe he was just focused on the here and now, the simple act of translating what he saw onto paper. The overall effect is subtle, but there's a real sense of intimacy and connection. It reminds us that art is often about slowing down, observing, and finding beauty in the everyday.