Untitled [seated female nude on a short stool] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated nude, probably in the 1960s, using charcoal on paper. You can see how the marks are laid down, kind of tentative, always searching, which tells you a lot about how Diebenkorn saw artmaking as a process. Looking closely, you notice the texture created by the charcoal, especially around the stool and the figure's contours. There's a raw, almost unfinished quality to the piece, as if Diebenkorn was more interested in the act of seeing and recording than in creating a polished image. I love the way he uses these scribbly lines to suggest shadow and volume, like near her neck and under her arms. It’s like he's building up the form bit by bit. Diebenkorn made many figurative studies, and the way he balances abstraction and representation reminds me a bit of Matisse. Ultimately, the beauty of this drawing lies in its honesty and the way it invites us to participate in the artist's process of discovery.