Kop van een man met een bril en baard 1906 - 1945

This line drawing by Reijer Stolk, titled "Kop van een man met een bril en baard" (Head of a Man with Glasses and Beard), feels immediate, like it has just come into being. I can imagine Stolk’s hand moving quickly across the paper, capturing the essence of his subject with economical lines. It’s a delicate dance between observation and expression. You can see Stolk making marks and then quickly adding some more, searching to find the form, thinking and rethinking the lines as he goes, and also adding random notes around the head. The simplicity of the medium – pencil on paper – emphasizes the artist's skill in conveying form and character with minimal means. This reminds me of other artists who use line to describe form, like Giacometti. It's like Stolk is having a conversation with himself, and we, as viewers, are invited to listen in. We all owe so much to each other, because this conversation spans time, cultures, and perspectives. I, as an artist, am so inspired by other artists who show that painting embraces ambiguity and uncertainty.