Untitled [female nude resting in a dark seat] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a resting female nude with ink on paper. Look at how the ink pools and bleeds across the surface. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving quickly, trying to capture a fleeting moment, a pose that won't last. I think Diebenkorn was trying to wrestle with something here: how to turn a three-dimensional form into a collection of marks on a flat surface. It's like he's thinking aloud with his brush, one line at a time. The way he renders her body with these scribbled, energetic lines, especially around the torso, gives a real sense of weight and presence. It reminds me a bit of Matisse, but with a kind of restless, searching quality that’s all Diebenkorn. It's like he's not just drawing a figure, but also mapping out the space around her, defining her through a network of lines and tones. And those dark, moody washes in the background? They create this intimate, almost melancholic atmosphere, inviting us to pause and reflect on the simple beauty of the human form.