Untitled [female nude reclining on a lounge chair] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a reclining nude on a lounge chair with graphite on paper. The marks are searching, almost like he’s feeling his way around the form. There's something so tender and intimate about that process. Look at the way he renders the weight of the figure with these layered, almost frantic lines. You can almost feel the give of the lounge chair, the way the body sinks into it. The hatching creates a sense of volume, but it also leaves room for interpretation. And the composition; the bold lines around the figure and the minimal background...it's like a stage set. It reminds me of some of the drawings of David Hockney, that same kind of casual intimacy. But Diebenkorn... he’s really working through something here. You can sense the push and pull, the artist grappling with the form, not quite resolving it, but embracing that ambiguity.