Landschap, mogelijk een duinlandschap 1881 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge drew this landscape with what looks like charcoal; a flurry of marks suggesting a possible dune landscape. I imagine de Jonge standing there, feeling the wind, squinting at the light, the charcoal in hand moving across the page. You can almost see the push and pull, the artist's hand moving back and forth, trying to capture the essence of the scene. I wonder what de Jonge was thinking, what he was trying to convey? What the process was like? It’s not so much about the thing itself, but the sensation, the energy, the very thingness of the place. Look at the marks near the bottom of the drawing. See how they become trees, or bushes, but they are also just lines on a page. De Jonge is in conversation with other artists, all trying to figure out how to translate the world onto a flat surface. How to make something that feels alive, that breathes. It’s a conversation that continues to this day.