Untitled [seated woman with crossed arms] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated woman with black ink on paper. There’s a directness to the work, like it came straight from his hand, without any fuss. Diebenkorn’s lines are confident and fluid, but they also have a slight hesitancy, as if he’s feeling his way around the form, trying to capture something essential. I know that feeling well, that point where you’re trying to get the line *just* right. He’s not trying to trick us with illusionism, but trying to get at something more basic, more felt. The way he renders the woman’s hands—one arm crossed, fingers intertwined—it’s all so simple, yet so expressive. In his own way, Diebenkorn is always in dialogue with artists like Matisse. I see this work as a continuation of a conversation about how we see and represent the world around us. It shows that the best art isn't about answers, but about the questions we ask.