Untitled [seated female nude holding her leg with her right hand] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a seated female nude, sometime during his career, with what looks like a soft graphite pencil on paper. I love how you can see the making of the drawing. It’s not overworked, and the artist seems to be searching for the form, letting us in on the process. The most striking part for me is the jumble of lines describing the leg she's holding – a web of marks that both describe and obscure the form. It's like Diebenkorn is thinking out loud, letting us see him figure out the shape and volume of the figure. I think that this reveals an intimate and playful engagement with the subject, allowing the viewer to experience the act of seeing and representing simultaneously. Diebenkorn’s mentor was David Park, and this reminds me of his work. Both artists share a similar sensibility. Both were invested in the process of artmaking as a form of exploration and discovery, and embraced the ambiguity and openness that arise from this approach.