Untitled [seated nude looking to her right and down] [recto] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated nude, probably in charcoal, sometime in the twentieth century. It's all about process, isn't it? The way the lines search and find the form, then lose it again. Look at the arm that’s closest to us. See how the line describing it doubles back on itself? That doubling isn't a mistake; it's a record of the artist seeing, correcting, and seeing again. The overall effect is something immediate and raw. You can feel the artist working, thinking, as he goes. It reminds me a bit of Matisse, especially his line drawings – that same feeling of capturing a form with the fewest, most essential marks. It’s like Diebenkorn is saying, "Here's a body, but it's also just a bunch of lines on paper."