Untitled [standing nude holding a chair back with her left hand] 1955 - 1967

This is a brush and ink drawing by Richard Diebenkorn, it’s called Untitled [standing nude holding a chair back with her left hand]. The way Diebenkorn attacks the paper with these broad, dark strokes feels immediate, like a snapshot of a fleeting moment. The ink, thick in some places and almost transparent in others, creates a real sense of depth. Look at how the chair is constructed with these bold, almost crude lines, but then the body is softer, more shaded. It is as if he's capturing not just the form, but also the energy, the very act of seeing. The whole thing feels precarious, caught between figuration and abstraction. It’s there in the negative space around her body. Diebenkorn always makes me think of Matisse, that same economy of line, the dance between what’s there and what’s left out. For me, art is always about that conversation, the push and pull.