Untitled [woman with hands clasped] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a woman with charcoal on paper, at some point in his career. It’s not dated. You can see the confidence in those bold, expressive lines. Each stroke feels deliberate, capturing the essence of the figure with a kind of joyful economy. I can imagine Diebenkorn standing before the model, his eyes darting back and forth, trying to distill what he sees into a few essential marks. The charcoal smudges and blends, creating a soft, almost dreamlike quality, while the stark contrast between the black lines and the white paper gives the drawing a graphic punch. There's an intimacy in the way he’s rendered her, a sense of shared space and quiet observation. Maybe he was thinking of Matisse or Picasso, other artists who found endless inspiration in the human form. Artists are always looking, always learning from each other, trying to find their own way of seeing the world. What do you think he was trying to capture?