Untitled [standing female nude turning left] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this 'Untitled [standing female nude turning left]' sometime in his career, using graphite on paper. It's all about the line, isn't it? How it moves, hesitates, and then confidently asserts itself. Look at the left side of the figure, the way the graphite almost bleeds into the paper. You can see the pressure he put down, and how he's smudged it. That darker, smudged area gives weight, presence, while other lines are tentative, searching. The beauty is in that contrast, the push and pull between certainty and doubt, boldness and fragility. It reminds me of Matisse, particularly his line drawings. There's a similar economy of means, a sense of capturing the essence of the figure with just a few strokes. You can feel the artist thinking, seeing, and responding in real-time. Art isn't about answers, it's about the questions.