Op de rug liggende muizen 1883 - 1922

Johanna van de Kamer made this study of mice with pencil on paper. Can you imagine sitting with tiny mice, trying to capture their likeness as they lay still? I wonder what Van de Kamer was thinking as she looked at the small creatures, focusing on the details, the texture of their fur, the delicacy of their paws. I imagine her squinting at her subject, trying to really see. The quickly sketched lines communicate the sensitivity of touch; some are pale and smudged, others are dark and confident. Look how the different marks describe the form and convey the soft volume of the rodents' bodies. I feel a kinship with Van de Kamer, as someone also trying to capture something about the world through observation and mark-making. The history of art is full of artists studying nature, exchanging ways of seeing across time. Each one teaches me something new about the endless possibilities of looking, feeling, and drawing.