Untitled [standing female nude with right arm and leg on chair] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this untitled charcoal drawing of a standing female nude, sometime in the 20th century. It's all about line, scribbly and free, like he's thinking out loud with the charcoal. See how the charcoal sort of vibrates on the paper? The lines aren't precious, they overlap, they correct themselves, like he's searching for the form rather than just describing it. It's like a map of the artist's looking, you know? Especially on the lower half of the body, the marks become so dense that the figure almost fades into the shadows. Then there’s that horizontal bar in the background – it pins the figure into the space. It reminds me of other artists who were figuring out how to see and how to represent the body, like Giacometti. But Diebenkorn’s got this looseness, this casualness, that’s all his own. It's a reminder that art isn't about getting it 'right,' but about the messy, beautiful process of trying.