Untitled [reclining nude with her head back] [recto] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing, "Untitled [reclining nude with her head back]", on paper, and I can imagine him crouched over it, charcoal in hand. It’s all about the line, right? That dark, assertive stroke defining the model’s form, the quick, searching marks suggesting light and shadow, volume and space. You get the sense that he’s thinking through the act of drawing. The way he’s captured the tension in her pose, head thrown back, arm flung above her, that line is so sure, so fluid. It's like he’s channeling her energy directly onto the page. There's this amazing sense of immediacy. You can feel the artist working and reworking his way to the final image. It reminds me of Matisse, and all those studio drawings he did of women. Ultimately, drawing and painting is about this conversation with the past, this exchange of ideas across time. We’re all borrowing, stealing, and riffing off of each other, trying to make sense of the world in our own way.