Untitled [male nude holding the arm of a female nude] 1955 - 1967

Here's a drawing by Richard Diebenkorn of two nudes, probably made with charcoal or conte crayon. Look at the casualness of the marks, like a train of thought captured in graphite. It feels like Diebenkorn is working something out, searching, with the lines thick and thin, almost like he's feeling around in the dark. I wonder what he was thinking when he made this? Was he trying to find a new way to represent the body, or was he more interested in the relationship between the two figures? It reminds me of some of Matisse's drawings, that same sense of searching and finding. But Diebenkorn brings his own sensibility to it. You can see his interest in form, but there's also a looseness, a willingness to let the drawing breathe. And that’s what makes it so engaging! It invites us to join the conversation.