Untitled [standing female nude with left hand raised to chin] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this standing female nude with ink on paper. Look at the economy of mark making: each brushstroke so loaded and suggestive! You can almost see Diebenkorn, in his mind’s eye, searching for the right line, trying to capture the essence of the figure with the fewest gestures possible. I wonder, was he thinking of Matisse? It has that same kind of linear elegance, that confidence in the power of a single, well-placed stroke. The ink is thin, almost watery in places, allowing the paper to breathe and become part of the image. The negative space is just as important as the figure itself, creating a sense of lightness and air. That one stroke that defines the leg, so simple, yet so effective! It speaks to Diebenkorn's ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and space, riffing off each other's ideas, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.