Untitled [seated nude with right leg raised] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated nude, probably from life, using charcoal or graphite on paper. It's all about the process here; you can see Diebenkorn feeling his way around the form, with lines that are searching and tentative. The texture is rough, with a lot of smudging and hatching. The overall effect is one of intimacy, like we're right there in the room with the artist and the model. I’m drawn to the way he renders the shadow under the model's raised leg, it’s a dense concentration of marks that almost obscures the form, creating a sense of weight and depth. Diebenkorn's drawings are often seen as studies for his paintings, but they stand on their own as beautiful and expressive works of art. Think of someone like Guston, who was also a master of both drawing and painting, and whose work also has that same sense of immediacy and directness. Art is a conversation, and these artists are all talking to each other across time.