Untitled [reclining nude with her arms above her head] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this untitled drawing of a reclining nude with ink on paper. The linear approach, it feels like the most simple and direct response to a human form, an artmaking process stripped down to its bare essentials. The black ink sits flat on the page, defining the contours of the figure with a casual confidence. There is real directness to the lines themselves, but if you follow the lines you can see an uncertainty. The artist has gone over them, doubling them up and creating areas of shadow that push and pull the image. Look at the rendering of the breasts, the lines swirl and create the illusion of shadow and volume. This type of mark-making is very reminiscent of Matisse, especially in his line drawings from the 1940s, and this drawing by Diebenkorn feels like an intimate conversation between artists across time, each exploring the poetics of line and form.