untitled [seated female nude with left hand to mouth] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing, untitled [seated female nude with left hand to mouth], with charcoal on paper. Charcoal, in its very nature, is about gesture and immediacy. It is one of the most direct materials: a piece of burnt wood that allows the artist to translate a thought directly to paper. You can see Diebenkorn used this spontaneity to his advantage. The marks are not labored, nor overly precise, but confidently capture the figure’s overall form and posture. There’s an improvisational quality in the sketch, a sense of freedom in the artist’s hand, and the simplicity of the medium allows for an emphasis on line and form, reducing the figure to its most essential elements. The beauty here isn’t about high-flown technique or rare material, but more about how an artist, through the material, can give expression to both their own experience and a shared understanding of the human form. It reminds us that the most resonant art often comes from simple means.