Untitled [kneeling female nude leaning back] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn drew this kneeling nude with ink on paper, and you can almost see the quick, fluid movements of his hand. The lines are confident, capturing the essence of the figure with a kind of raw immediacy. I imagine Diebenkorn, maybe in his studio, quickly trying to capture the pose before it shifts. There's a kind of energy in those marks, a sense of urgency to get it down, to translate what he’s seeing into a language of line. I can almost feel his presence in those bold strokes. Look at the lines that define her back and shoulders—so economical, yet they convey so much about form and weight. I feel like I can see other artists in that line, too. Matisse, maybe. It makes you think about how artists are always in conversation, riffing off each other, finding new ways to see and express. And how, in the end, drawing and painting is an intimate and messy dance between the eye, the hand, and the heart.