Untitled [side view of kneeling female nude] 1955 - 1967

This is Richard Diebenkorn’s 'Untitled [side view of kneeling female nude]' made with graphite on paper. You can really see the movement in this piece, how Diebenkorn felt his way around the form. It’s like he’s thinking through the drawing, line by line. What strikes me is how little information is actually there. Yet the curve of the back, the angle of the neck, the shadow under the arm, all give us a full picture of a human being. It's not about perfection; it's about capturing a moment, a feeling. It's raw and immediate. Look at the lines around the left knee, how they almost dissolve into the page. It's like he's erasing as he goes, searching for the right form, the right gesture. Diebenkorn’s approach reminds me of Matisse, especially his line drawings. There’s a similar simplicity, a similar focus on capturing the essence of the figure.