Untitled [standing female nude leaning elbow on knee] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this ink drawing of a standing female nude, leaning, sometime in the mid-20th century. It’s a study in line, a real interrogation of form using the bare minimum. I love the economy of it, how the shapes are just suggested, almost like a memory of a body. The ink is drippy and pooling in places, thick and black where he’s laid it on heavy, thin and watery where the brush has just grazed the paper. You can almost feel the speed of his hand, the way he’s moved to capture the essence of the figure. Look at the way the line wavers and breaks, how it trembles with the energy of the moment. It’s a bold and confident piece, but there’s also a fragility to it. For me, this drawing is all about the process, the act of seeing and translating that vision onto paper. It reminds me a little of Matisse, in the way it reduces form to its most essential elements. It's like a conversation between artists, a shared language of line and form that transcends time.