Untitled [female nude seated and leaning on chair arm] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a female nude with ink on paper. You can almost feel the act of painting, right? The brushstrokes, thick and thin, confident and hesitant, all dancing together. I can imagine Diebenkorn in his studio, maybe listening to some cool jazz, trying to capture not just the form of the figure, but the feeling of it. The weight, the softness, the way the light hits the skin. It’s all there in those lines, so immediate. Look at how the thick, dark strokes define the chair. And then, how these marks contrast with the delicate curves of the body. Each stroke seems like a breath, an exhalation of form and space. For me, this piece echoes the expressive lines of Matisse, while also anticipating the abstract gestures that Diebenkorn would become famous for later on. It's like he's in conversation with both the past and his own future self.