Untitled [nude seated on a stool and leaning on her left arm] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this untitled ink drawing of a nude, probably in the mid-twentieth century. The seemingly simple lines are not just descriptive; they feel like a record of a thought process, a kind of thinking-through-drawing. Diebenkorn's marks are so direct, so unpretentious. Look at the legs of the stool. These lines aren’t trying to trick you into thinking they're real, they are plainly ink on paper. The lines vary in weight and intensity, thick in some places, thin in others, revealing the pressure of his hand and the speed of his gesture. And the areas where the ink bleeds slightly, giving it a fuzzy edge, feels so intimate, so human. It reminds me of Matisse, especially his line drawings from the '40s. Both artists share a similar interest in the human form. But with Diebenkorn, there's also a sense of something unresolved, a searching quality, an honesty. It's not about getting it "right," but about the pleasure of looking and the process of trying to capture something elusive.