Untitled [woman playing the piano] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a woman at a piano with graphite on paper. See how the frantic, scribbled marks build up the figure, the piano, and the space around them? It's like he’s mapping out the energy of the scene. There’s an immediacy here. The texture of the graphite creates a sense of depth, a visual buzz. You can almost feel the give and take as he works out the composition. Look at the way the lines around her shoulders suggest the weight of her posture, the tension in the music. It’s interesting to consider this drawing alongside his Ocean Park series, where the geometric shapes and subtle color variations create a similar sense of space and light, but with a very different feeling. Diebenkorn reminds us that art is a journey, not a destination.