Untitled [female nude crouching in front of a chair] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this painting of a female nude crouching in front of a chair with what looks like ink on paper. The brushstrokes are so economical and expressive, like he’s trying to figure out how little information he needs to give us. It’s all about the gesture, isn’t it? You can almost feel him moving the brush across the paper, pushing and pulling, finding the form. I imagine him circling around his subject, trying to capture the essence of the figure and that chair, not just what they look like, but how they feel, the space around them, the weight of it all. And the ink! It's so fluid, like a dance between control and letting go. I love how he suggests the shape of her body with these bold strokes, leaving so much to our imagination. I feel a connection to other artists who were similarly engaged in the body, like Egon Schiele. There’s a conversation happening here, a passing of ideas, isn’t there? It's like a painter's club, with nods and winks across time.