Untitled [standing female nude with raised right arm] 1955 - 1967

This is a drawing of a standing female nude with raised right arm made by Richard Diebenkorn. Look closely at the paper and you can sense the charcoal dancing across the page. The rapid, sketchy lines suggest the artist worked quickly, capturing the essence of the figure in just a few strokes. I feel for Diebenkorn. He’s trying to figure something out, right? How the body’s form changes with the slightest shift in weight. The way light catches the curve of a shoulder or the swell of a breast. He’s not aiming for perfection; he's after something more real, more human. That hatched shading on the side of the body, it’s like he’s carving out the form with light and shadow. Diebenkorn was always in conversation with other artists, like Matisse. Each artist adds their own voice, their own perspective. And it all builds up over time. This drawing feels like a moment in that ongoing dialogue – an artist grappling with the complexities of form, light, and the human condition.