Untitled [seated female nude resting her right arm on her leg] 1955 - 1967

This drawing of a seated nude was made by Richard Diebenkorn with graphite on paper. You can see how Diebenkorn constructs a figure with the bare minimum of lines, it’s like he’s building up the form in a very basic, immediate way. Look at the density of marks around the arm that’s resting on the leg. There’s a real energy in those lines, almost a frenzy, and then compare it to the single, tentative line that runs down the model's other leg. It’s like he’s feeling his way through the drawing, responding to the figure in real-time. I think that kind of openness to process connects him to artists like Giacometti, where the act of seeing and drawing becomes this ongoing search, a restless attempt to capture something that's always just out of reach.