Untitled [nude seated sideways resting her head and shoulder against seat back] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this "Untitled" nude drawing with what looks like graphite on paper. It’s all about the line, isn’t it? The line that isn't trying too hard, the searching line, the line that almost feels like a caress. The texture of the paper peeks through, giving it a soft, almost dreamlike quality. The lines aren't precious; they have a casualness, a confidence in their incompleteness. Look at the way the line describing her left leg sort of fades in and out, suggesting form without fully defining it. It's like Diebenkorn is thinking out loud with his pencil. You get a sense of the artist circling the subject, trying to capture not just the likeness, but the feeling of being in the room with her. It reminds me of Matisse's drawings, that same economy of line, that same sensuality. But Diebenkorn brings his own West Coast cool to it. It's a study in the beauty of understatement, the power of suggestion.