Untitled [study of a woman facing right] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this study of a woman facing right with graphite on paper, and it’s all about how he's feeling his way through the form. It’s a dance of observation and mark-making. Look closely, and you’ll see the lines aren't just describing the woman; they're also exploring the space around her. It’s like Diebenkorn is thinking out loud with his pencil, adjusting and refining as he goes. The texture of the paper peeks through, adding a kind of quiet hum to the whole thing. Notice the way he captures the slope of her nose with just a few strokes, or the tentative lines around her shoulders. There’s a real sense of vulnerability in those marks. They remind me of a Matisse drawing, where simplicity speaks volumes. Diebenkorn, like many artists, was in constant conversation with the past, finding his own voice through the echoes of others. The beauty of art lies in its ambiguity, in the space it creates for our own interpretations.