Untitled [two seated figures, one leaning forward] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing with ink and charcoal. You can feel it, right? The nervous energy of the charcoal line, the push and pull of dark versus light, a dance of erasures and redrawing, smudging and clarifying. I imagine him, leaning over the paper, maybe with some jazz on, chasing after something he can almost see but not quite. These figures, they're not really *there,* but they're *felt,* rendered with such immediacy. I bet he built it up, rubbed it away, found some forms, lost them again, and then, maybe, stopped. He knew when to quit, and that is quite something to know. Look how those marks coalesce into a form, then dissolve back into abstraction. It is a constant state of flux. It reminds me that painting is not so much about depiction, but about sensation, feeling, a kind of translation of inner experience into external form. This piece is a testament to the raw, expressive power of line and tone and Diebenkorn's love of the human form.