Untitled [seated female nude seen from above and slightly behind] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this seated nude with ink on paper, and what strikes me is its immediate quality. The marks are so economical, so decisive. It’s like seeing the artist think. I love how the ink line varies in weight, sometimes pooling to create darker accents. Notice the hair, how it’s just a few looping strokes that somehow capture the weight and flow of it. And the way he defines the shadow under the breast with a simple, almost playful squiggle. It’s not about perfection, but about the energy of the gesture. You can almost feel the speed of his hand as he moves across the page, editing and refining as he goes. Diebenkorn, who is best known for his "Ocean Park" series, was fascinated by Matisse, and it's easy to see that Matisse’s spirit of effortless line and simple beauty lives on here. It reminds us that art is not about answers but about the ongoing process of looking, feeling, and finding our way.