Vrouw in een lange mantel omsloten door een raster van lijnen en driehoeken Possibly 1943

Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita made this drawing of a woman in a long coat surrounded by a grid of lines and triangles, in 1943. The lines are so tentative, like he's feeling his way around the subject. It's a process of searching. The drawing is all about the starkness of the ink on paper. The texture comes from the varying pressure of the artist’s hand. See how the lines defining her face are darker, more assertive than those forming the geometric shapes around her? I'm drawn to the curls framing her face, each one meticulously rendered, a testament to Mesquita's attention to detail. There’s something about how the linear geometric framework contrasts with the organic curves of the figure that creates a compelling tension. It reminds me a little of Klimt, how he uses pattern and decoration to frame his figures, although here, the effect is more unsettling, the lines perhaps suggesting confinement. Art, like life, is often about seeing the world in multiple dimensions, finding new ways of interpreting what’s in front of us.