Untitled [female nude seated on a low stool] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a female nude seated on a low stool with graphite on paper. Imagine Diebenkorn, gazing intently at his subject, his hand moving across the page, capturing the play of light and shadow on the model’s body. I can almost feel the pressure of his pencil as he renders the soft curves of her form, building up the tone with these delicate lines. There's a real intimacy, a sense of quiet observation. The marks are so unassuming and assured, that they speak of countless hours spent drawing. Diebenkorn’s drawings are so connected to the lineage of artists constantly looking to the figure for ways to describe their feeling for form and space, artists like Matisse, Giacometti, and de Kooning. Each of them has offered different ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world.