Schetsboek met 55 bladen c. 1900 - 1931

This is the cover of a sketchbook containing 55 pages, crafted by Willem Bastiaan Tholen. The texture of the cover draws us into a tactile experience. This surface evokes a sense of age and durability. The darkness itself, is a void, pregnant with potential. Consider how the imagery of darkness has resonated throughout various epochs. From the shadowed depths of Plato’s cave to the Romantic poets' fascination with the sublime night, darkness often represents the unknown, the subconscious, and the space of transformation. The blank slate of this sketchbook, cloaked in darkness, echoes the human psyche itself. The collective memory, ingrained in the subconscious, finds expression through the artist's hand. Each turn of the page, like the unfolding of a dream, promises to reveal the cyclical progression of ideas, constantly resurfacing and evolving across time.