Untitled [female nude leaning left] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this sparse drawing of a female nude with ink on paper. Imagine him, poised with his brush, feeling the weight of the ink, the drag of the bristles. There's a tenderness to the marks, a searching quality. Look how the line travels, sometimes sure, sometimes hesitant, building form with incredible economy. Is it about capturing likeness or about something else entirely? I wonder what Diebenkorn was thinking, was he trying to find the essence of form, to distill the body down to its most fundamental lines? It reminds me of Matisse, but with a Californian coolness. You can feel the California light. Artists like Diebenkorn show us that painting isn’t just about representation, it's a conversation. Each stroke is a thought, a question, a response to art history, and the world around us.