Untitled [seated nude wearing a necklace] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated nude, wearing a necklace, with what looks like a graphite stick on paper. There's a kind of searching quality to the lines, as if he's feeling his way around the form, adjusting and correcting as he goes, a real sense of process. I love how Diebenkorn uses the weight of the graphite to suggest the shadows and volume of her body. Look at the way he's built up the darks under her leg and on the side of her torso. The marks are so immediate and direct, you can almost feel the pressure of his hand on the paper. And then there are these really delicate, almost tentative lines that define her face and the curve of her shoulder, such sensitivity to the materiality of the medium. I find myself returning to the single line that makes up the left side of the sitter's face, the way the line wavers ever so slightly. For me, this piece resonates with the work of artists like Egon Schiele, who were also exploring the expressive possibilities of the human form through line and gesture.