Untitled [female model seated with crossed legs] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this ink drawing of a seated figure on paper, and it just breathes with the process of art-making. The ink looks so fluid, almost watery, pooling in some areas, thin and transparent in others. See how the artist lets the medium do its thing, allowing the ink to bleed and run, embracing the unpredictable nature of the process. It gives the figure a real sense of movement, like she's caught between one moment and the next. Notice the way Diebenkorn uses these dark, bold strokes to define the figure's form, particularly in the torso, but then leaves other areas like the legs and face more ambiguous, open to interpretation. For me, this piece feels like a conversation between control and chance, intention and accident. Like his Bay Area landscapes, Diebenkorn is finding this balance between abstraction and figuration. And you can see echoes of Matisse in the bold lines and simplified forms, that same spirit of experimentation and joy in the act of seeing. It’s a reminder that art isn’t about perfect representation, but about embracing the messy, beautiful, imperfect process of creation.