Untitled [seated nude embracing her crossed legs] 1955 - 1967

This is Richard Diebenkorn’s ‘Untitled [seated nude embracing her crossed legs]’, a drawing on paper. Look how Diebenkorn lays down these fluid washes of ink. It's so immediate, so process-oriented. You can almost feel him working, searching for the form in the stains. I think of this as a choreography of ink and paper. The palette is stripped back to monochrome, but there are endless gradients in these washes. See how the figure emerges from the darker background, through delicate tonal shifts. It’s not about perfect representation. It's the quality of the mark-making that's doing the heavy lifting. It's about seeing the potential for abstraction within figuration. Diebenkorn reminds me of Matisse, someone who also uses drawing as a way to feel out form, and space. It's like he's feeling his way through the dark.