Brug over een kanaal in Enkhuizen 1900 - 1931

Willem Bastiaan Tholen made this drawing of a bridge over a canal in Enkhuizen with graphite on paper. Look how the composition emerges from the lower-right corner! The bridge rises diagonally across the page like a thought forming. See how the marks are layered, creating depth and shadow, especially in the foliage. Tholen’s hatching feels both precise and exploratory. There is a tension between the architectural elements, rendered with a certain linearity, and the softer, more gestural treatment of the trees and reflections in the water. The lines are tentative, searching, as if the image is being discovered rather than imposed. Notice the way the vertical lines of the buildings are echoed in the lined paper beneath, creating a subtle rhythm. This drawing reminds me a little of some of Philip Guston’s looser, more atmospheric landscapes, where form and light dissolve into a field of marks, revealing the beauty of transience and imperfection.