Portretstudies voor het (onvoltooide) schilderij van de Nederlandse rechtbank in Londen, juni 1942: Mr E.P.A. Akkerman-Weber. Possibly 1942 - 1946

Anton Abraham van Anrooy made these portrait studies in June 1942 in London, in preparation for a painting of the Dutch court. It's all delicate pencil work, a process of feeling out the form and structure of the faces. The texture of the paper becomes part of the drawing; it's not just a blank surface, but something that actively participates. Look at the hands, how lightly they're suggested, almost dissolving into the page. Van Anrooy isn't trying to give us every detail, but more a sense of presence, of people caught in a moment of contemplation. You can almost feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. The faces are gently rendered, but the eyes look like they have seen a lot. I'm reminded of Lucian Freud's drawings, in the way he captures the weight and reality of the human form. Like Freud, Van Anrooy shows us that art is not about perfect representation, but about a conversation, an ongoing exchange between the artist and the world.