Untitled [standing male and seated female nudes] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this ink drawing of two figures, a standing male and a seated female nude, on paper. Can you feel the artist working through the line? I feel like Diebenkorn is right there with me, as I think he’s thinking: where does the line go next? Is that line the right one? I can feel his searching, his decisions, his second thoughts… Sometimes when you draw you feel as though the model is looking back at you, and you get self-conscious. But here it feels like the artist is just thinking, drawing, and feeling his way through the line. Maybe that’s what he was thinking. These figures are so open and vulnerable, just being themselves. That’s how the best paintings come about, too.