Untitled [rear view of standing female nude with arm behind her back] 1955 - 1967

Here we have a drawing by Richard Diebenkorn, a rear view of a standing female nude made with ink on paper. The inky lines are confident and economical, quickly finding the form, but with a slight hesitancy that's really appealing, it’s a process of trying to understand what he's seeing. The ink sits on the surface, and in places it pools, like at the bottom of the left leg, gathering and blooming like a tiny bruise. It gives the drawing an immediacy and a sense of the liquid medium, as though the drawing was completed in one go. Diebenkorn uses the minimum of marks, often a single line will describe the edge of the form, or a gently curving stroke will describe the hollow of the back. It's interesting how a single line can convey so much information! I think of Matisse when I see this, another artist so skilled at using line, both exploring the figure through the simplest of means, but both arrive at something so strong and direct. What do you think?