Gezicht op een stad aan het water 1914 - 1916

This small graphite drawing is “View of a City by the Water,” by Willem Cornelis Rip. The composition is divided across the notebook's two pages. One side remains starkly empty, heightening the effect of the city scene sketched on the other. Rip employs line and form to convey a sense of place. Note the sketch’s economy of detail and how the architectural elements are simplified to geometric forms. The windmill and the church tower are rendered with swift, confident lines, and the reflections in the water are just quick, broken strokes. Rip captures not just the physical appearance of the city, but the essence of a bustling waterfront. This is not an attempt at a photorealistic portrayal. Rip is interested in the structure of the scene, reducing it to its most fundamental components. The artist prompts us to consider how a few lines can evoke a sense of place.