Untitled [seated nude with right foot turned under] 1955 - 1967

Here's that Diebenkorn, a seated nude drawn with charcoal on paper, and you can see how the marks almost seem to search out the form. Look at the way the charcoal lines dance around her body, never quite settling, as if he’s trying to capture not just what she looks like, but the very act of seeing itself. Then there’s the paper, stained with these warm washes that feel almost like a memory, a gentle haze. Notice the energy in the leg closest to us, with its dark, sure lines, and then how they fade out, almost unfinished. It’s as if Diebenkorn is saying, “Here’s a body, but it’s also about the looking, the feeling, the trying.” There is something of Matisse here, but Diebenkorn’s lines are more tentative, less sure, inviting us to participate in the process. It’s this openness, this embrace of the unfinished, that makes the drawing so alive.