Untitled [nude on a draped stool with her right foot on the seat] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this nude study with ink on paper. It's one of those drawings where you can almost feel the artist making corrections, searching for the line, finding and losing the form. I've done so many drawings like this, and it's like a conversation with yourself, isn't it? You’re trying to capture something elusive, a sense of weight and form, but also a feeling, the mood of the model, maybe even your own mood. You can see Diebenkorn simplifying the figure, reducing it to these essential lines, but each one feels so deliberate, so considered. The drips of ink add a kind of vulnerability. It reminds me that drawing, like painting, is really about embracing accidents, letting the material speak. And you can see echoes of Matisse in the simplicity and elegance of the line. It’s like artists are always talking to each other across time, riffing on each other's ideas, pushing the conversation forward.