Draughtsman and lady at the table 1917

Gustav Schraegle made this drawing of a draughtsman and a lady at a table with ink. The rapid, scribbled quality of the marks makes it feel immediate, like a snapshot of a moment. There's this real push and pull between the marks describing form and shape, like the figures, and the marks just dancing on the surface. The vertical lines behind the figures, they could be a wall, or they could be just marks. I love the way the lines build up to create a sense of depth and shadow. It's like Schraegle is thinking through the image, finding his way as he goes. You can really see the hand in this work, the way the ink bleeds into the paper. It reminds me of a Cy Twombly drawing, with that same sense of energy and improvisation. Ultimately, it's the sketch-like quality that I find so appealing, that sense of something fleeting and unresolved.