Untitled [man and woman embracing on a bed] 1955 - 1967

This is an undated drawing called 'man and woman embracing on a bed', by Richard Diebenkorn. It's a simple line drawing, and the marks feel so immediate. You can imagine Diebenkorn quickly capturing the scene before him. There is something about the directness of a drawing, just pen on paper, that creates intimacy. The embrace of the two figures is rendered with a nervous energy. See how the artist uses scribbled lines to suggest the form of the man's head, and contrasts this with the more solid outline of the woman’s profile. I love the different qualities of line and how they imply the weight and volume of the bodies, or the softness of the bed they're laying on. The two ink blots in the top left corner bring a welcome playfulness to the piece. Diebenkorn's linear style reminds me of Matisse. Like Matisse, the beauty of Diebenkorn’s work is in its seeming effortlessness, though I imagine a lot of effort actually went into making something look so simple! Ultimately, art is an ongoing experiment with perception and representation.