Untitled [portrait] 1955 - 1967

This portrait was dashed off by Richard Diebenkorn, and it looks like it was made with ink on paper. The energy in this piece comes from the quick, confident strokes. There's a real sense of the artist thinking through the form, not in a labored way, but like he's chasing the essence of the sitter. Look how the lines around the eyes and mouth are scribbled over, creating depth with just a few marks. It's like he's trying to capture a fleeting expression. The blankness of the paper is as important as the marks. It feels like a moment suspended in time. Diebenkorn reminds me of Matisse here, with a similar economy of line. Ultimately, it’s that balance between what's there and what's not that makes this drawing so compelling. Art is just one big conversation anyway, isn't it?