Untitled [seated woman with an open box on her lap] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated woman with an open box on her lap, with what seems to be graphite on paper. The lines, like thoughts, appear quickly, layered and overlapping. The composition feels like a question, sketched in charcoal. What is she holding in the box? What is she thinking? Diebenkorn is figuring it out in real-time. I feel for Diebenkorn, trying to capture the essence of the figure with such simplicity. The woman's gaze is directed downwards, perhaps lost in thought, or maybe she is thinking of the artist himself? You can feel the artist’s hand moving swiftly across the paper, trying to pin down a feeling, a fleeting moment. It reminds me a little of Matisse’s line drawings, the way he tried to define form with as few marks as possible. These artists are in an ongoing conversation across time, inspiring one another’s creativity.