Untitled [seated woman with hands in lap] 1955 - 1967

This is Richard Diebenkorn’s sketch of a seated woman with hands in her lap. It’s done with charcoal on paper. The line is everything here. It’s so spare, yet so expressive. It’s like he's feeling his way around the form, not trying to capture a likeness, but more like mapping out the space. Look at how the lines overlap, how they suggest the weight and volume of the figure. It’s like he's thinking out loud with his charcoal, letting us see the process of his perception. Notice especially the area around her hands, the way he's layered the lines to create a sense of depth and complexity. It's almost abstract, but then you see the figure emerging from the tangle of marks. It's really beautiful. Diebenkorn’s work often dances between representation and abstraction. And you know, the way he uses line reminds me a bit of Matisse, especially his drawings. It's art as a conversation, an ongoing exploration of form and space.