Zes vrouwen met fruit before 1945

Reijer Stolk etched this image of six women with fruit sometime between 1911 and 1945. It’s hard to say exactly when, or what the artist had in mind. But I can imagine Stolk bent over the plate, the acid biting into the metal, the image slowly emerging. It's all about the line here, isn’t it? Thin, scratchy lines that define these figures, giving them form and weight. See how they carry trays piled high with fruit and boxes, balancing the loads with grace. Are they coming or going? Is it a procession, a market scene, or something else entirely? I think of other artists who've used line in powerful ways: Giacometti’s skeletal figures, Matisse’s flowing contours. Stolk's women, with their stylized bodies and stoic expressions, seem to belong to that lineage. They remind us that even the simplest mark can carry a world of meaning, connecting us to the past and opening up new possibilities for the future. It’s like artists are all in one big studio together, riffing off each other, pushing the boundaries of what paint, or etching, can do.