Untitled [seated female nude with right arm behind her head] 1955 - 1967

Here we have a drawing by Richard Diebenkorn, probably made with charcoal or graphite on paper. I love the way the artist is using line here; it's so economical, confident, but also searching and tentative. It's like you can see him thinking through the form as he goes. The paper is left bare, so the negative space becomes just as important as the marks themselves. The figure feels both present and absent, solid and ephemeral. Look at the way he defines the curve of the hip, and how that one continuous line travels all the way down to the toes. There's a real appreciation for the body, but it's also abstracted, reduced to these essential, almost diagrammatic shapes. This drawing reminds me of Matisse's line drawings. Like Matisse, Diebenkorn is interested in the tension between representation and abstraction, and the way a few simple lines can evoke a whole world of feeling. It shows that art is a conversation, a back-and-forth between artists across time.