Untitled [seated female nude looking down] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated female nude with graphite on paper. Look closely at those lines. They're not just describing a body, they're also exploring a way of seeing. It feels like a process, like he's thinking through the form as he draws. The texture of the paper peeks through, giving it an intimate feel. The graphite isn't heavy or dark, it's light and airy. See how the lines around her leg are almost scribbled? They're not about perfect representation, they're about capturing a feeling, a sense of movement and uncertainty. That circular scribble where her stomach would be, it’s full of tentative lines; the closest he comes to modelling the form of her body with shadow. It's all about the process of looking and figuring things out. You see this kind of process-oriented approach in the work of other artists like Philip Guston, where the act of making becomes the subject itself. For Diebenkorn, like Guston, it's not about having all the answers, but about embracing the questions.