Untitled [seated nude resting her hands on her knees] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated nude, resting her hands on her knees, with what looks like charcoal on paper. It’s all about the line here, how the artist uses it to describe the figure in space, but also to describe a feeling. The marks are tentative and searching, as if he's feeling his way around the subject. I get the sense he’s trying to capture the weight of the figure, its volume, and the way the light falls across the body. It’s a study in seeing, really. Looking at this drawing, I think of other artists like Matisse, or even de Kooning, who were also obsessed with the figure. It’s like they’re all in conversation with each other, trying to figure out what it means to be human. The beauty of drawing, and painting in general, is that it can never be fully resolved. There's always room for interpretation, for questioning, for seeing things in a new way.