Untitled [female head] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing with charcoal, building up the image of a female head out of simple marks on paper. I wonder what it was like to be Diebenkorn making this, just feeling the charcoal in his fingers and watching as the image emerged. The powdery smudges feel so immediate and raw. Those dark, decisive outlines around the face feel almost Fauvist in their boldness, while the shading evokes a soft atmosphere. It reminds me of the work of artists like Matisse and Giacometti. It’s like Diebenkorn is in conversation with them, taking on the same challenge of capturing a likeness, but also exploring the abstract qualities of line and tone. You can see him playing with suggestion and ambiguity. Like, is that shadow on the left side of her face, or is it hair? For me, this work celebrates the openness of drawing, where meaning is never fixed, but always shifting and emerging.