Hoofd van een vrouw met een parelketting c. 1916

Reijer Stolk made this pencil sketch of a woman with a pearl necklace, we're not sure when, but it's at the Rijksmuseum. What strikes me is how the grid provides this underlying structure to the composition, and yet there's such spontaneity in the marks. You can almost feel Stolk working through the forms, searching for the right lines to define the curve of her face or the fall of her hair. The pressure of the pencil varies, creating areas of light and shadow that give the face volume and depth. See how the lines around the jaw are much more defined than the wispy marks in the hair. It reminds me a little of Giacometti’s drawings, that same sense of searching and not being quite able to grasp the form, as though reality is always just beyond our reach. There's a real conversation between the grid and the gesture, and I think that's what makes it so compelling. It’s a great example of how art can be both controlled and free.