Untitled [seated nude resting her head on her left hand] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated nude, resting her head on her left hand, with charcoal on paper. Diebenkorn’s use of charcoal is particularly interesting here. He’s not just outlining; he’s building form with tone, smudging and layering to suggest weight and volume. The charcoal is dense in the shadows, especially around the figure’s face and torso, creating a real sense of depth. Look at the way the lines around her eyes and mouth are so heavily worked, it’s like he's digging into the paper to find the expression. The smudged charcoal gives it a soft, almost blurry quality, like a memory or a fleeting impression. There’s a vulnerability to the figure, a sense of introspection that's really compelling. You can see him working out the forms, adjusting lines, and building up the image bit by bit, so it's like watching him think on paper. It puts me in mind of Rodin’s drawings, where the line is also used to capture movement and feeling, rather than just describe a shape.