Maandblad Verf en Kunst van P.A. Regnault (ontwerp) before 1941

Leo Gestel made this pencil drawing, a design for 'Maandblad Verf en Kunst van P.A. Regnault', on paper. It’s a flurry of grey lines, like a brainstorm captured in graphite. I can almost feel Gestel’s hand moving across the page, searching for the form, the rhythm. It's interesting to think of this as a design for a journal cover; the artist considering the relation of their creativity to the wider world. I wonder what Gestel was thinking about as he sketched these figures, these gestures. The figure to the right, with what looks like a brush in hand, has a dynamism that reminds me of early modernists like Kirchner. You get the sense that they are in dialogue, that the history of painting is one of constant exchange and inspiration. We are always building on the past while pushing towards something new. Painting is embodied expression; there’s no one right answer, just layers of exploration and discovery.