Untitled [seated nude with arms resting on chair back] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this seated nude drawing with charcoal on paper, and you can really see the push-and-pull of the medium in his confident line work. It's all about the process. Diebenkorn’s marks are so assured, they look like he really knew what he was doing; but also, like he wasn’t afraid to change his mind, or go over the line again. It feels like he’s building up the figure, searching for it, not just copying it. There’s something about the way the lines don’t quite meet, or overshoot, that makes the drawing feel alive, like it’s still in progress. Look at the back of the chair, see how he’s almost scribbling those lines? It reminds me of Matisse, who also loved to draw figures in simple lines, but always with a sense of volume and weight. It's like a conversation, a nod to the past while doing something totally new. It makes me think about how every artwork is just one step in an ongoing exchange of ideas.