Untitled [standing nude with scarf] 1955 - 1967

Richard Diebenkorn made this drawing of a nude with charcoal on paper, and the marks are so active I can imagine him circling and digging into the page with the side of the stick. You know, it's almost like he's sculpting with the charcoal. I wonder if he was listening to music? I bet the model was tired. I think of other artists like Matisse who loved to draw figures. It's like they're all in conversation across time, trying to figure out the same thing: what is it to be human? I'm often thinking about how artists are always inspiring each other, riffing on what came before. Diebenkorn probably looked at Matisse, and I bet someone today is looking at Diebenkorn, and maybe that person is you! Drawing can be such an embodied expression, so raw and direct, like you're right there in the room with the artist.