Untitled [female nude resting sideways in chair] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this untitled ink drawing of a female nude resting sideways in a chair. I love how the monochromatic ink, in varying shades of grey, allows the strokes to speak volumes. You know, I can imagine Diebenkorn standing there, brush in hand, wrestling with the form, trying to capture the essence of the figure in a few, confident strokes. See how the lines are both tentative and bold? There’s a real push and pull, a dance between observation and invention. I think he’s after something more than just a likeness; it's like he is trying to capture the energy, the weight, and the vulnerability of the human form. It reminds me a little of de Kooning, but with a calmer, more grounded feel. Diebenkorn’s work is so much about this tension between abstraction and representation. He wasn’t just copying what he saw, but translating it into something new. It's like he's in a conversation with the figure, with the medium, and with the whole history of art.