Untitled [nude female torso] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this ink drawing of a nude female torso, and what strikes me is how the body emerges from a network of lines. I like to think about the artist making this, and how it might have felt to make it. He’s feeling around for the form, right? Trying to get a handle on the weight and shape of the figure. These aren’t just any lines; they are the result of a particular kind of looking and feeling. See how they vary in thickness and pressure? Some are tentative, almost like whispers, others are bold and decisive. It makes me think of other line-makers like Matisse, and how they use line to capture not just what they see, but what they feel. Diebenkorn is in conversation with them, and all of us. It's like a dance of looking and marking, a dialogue between the artist, the subject, and the history of painting itself. The work is always alive, always changing, as we bring our own experiences and perspectives to it.