Blinde hond before 1952

Johan van Hell made this drawing, "Blinde hond", with pencil on paper. There’s something incredibly tender about the way the texture of the dog’s fur is rendered, it's almost touchable, as if Van Hell knew the feeling of running your fingers through those soft hairs. The surface is built up through countless tiny strokes, a real labor of love. The lack of color pushes us to focus on the tonal variations, the subtle gradations that give the dog its form. It’s hard to tell what kind of pencil he used, but the marks are delicate, almost tentative, as if he’s feeling his way through the subject. Look at the way the light catches the dog's snout, how it almost glows against the darker fur. That’s where the drawing really comes alive for me. It reminds me a little of Käthe Kollwitz’s drawings – that same sense of empathy and quiet dignity. Art is just an ongoing conversation.