Untitled [back and buttocks view of a kneeling female nude] [recto/verso] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a kneeling nude, we don’t know exactly when or why. It’s a pretty straightforward drawing, but look closely. The drawing feels immediate, all these sharp, scribbled lines on the page are not so much about what they represent, but more about his own experience of looking. They trace the body in space, finding volume, contour, shadow, and light. Look how he makes the marks denser in some areas, really building up the pressure to give us a sense of depth and volume. And notice how the background is barely there, just a suggestion of something else going on around the figure. To me, that lets the figure really pop. It reminds me a little of Matisse's line drawings. Artists like them both make it look so easy, but of course, it’s anything but. It’s a constant conversation, an evolving exchange of ideas about the body and its relationship to space.