Untitled [nude seated in an armchair turning to her left] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a nude figure seated in an armchair with charcoal on paper. I feel like I can see Diebenkorn’s thinking in the lines here, a kind of searching for the form, going over certain areas again and again, as if he is trying to capture not just the appearance of the model but also her essence. And the pose – with the model leaning slightly back, her arm casually draped over the chair, there’s a sense of intimacy and informality. The charcoal marks, thick and thin, create a range of tones and textures, bringing a sculptural quality to the figure. The lines are confident but also vulnerable, like he is laying himself bare on the paper, too. It reminds me of other figurative works he was doing around this time, and you can see him grappling with similar ideas in his later abstract paintings. It’s like he was constantly trying to find new ways to see and represent the world around him. We all stand on the shoulders of other artists, riffing on their ideas and pushing them in new directions. And that’s what makes art so exciting.