Untitled [female nude reclining with a cushion under her side] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a reclining female nude with ink on paper, and what strikes me is the absolute confidence of line. Look at the variation in the thickness of the lines: sometimes Diebenkorn uses a thin, wiry contour, at others he adds pressure to build up bolder patches of tone, like in the hair, or the hatched shading that defines the cushion beneath her. The beauty of working with ink is that it really forces you to commit – there’s no going back! You can see the influence of Matisse in Diebenkorn’s relaxed, flowing line, but there’s also something distinctively American, a kind of raw energy, particularly in the areas where he allows the ink to pool and blotch. This reminds me of Cy Twombly. For both artists drawing becomes a kind of dance, a record of a physical encounter with the page. It’s about the pleasure of looking. The pleasure of making. The pleasure of seeing.