Jonge vrouw met een shawl om het hoofd, in profiel naar rechts 1892 - 1913

This drawing of a young woman with a headscarf, in profile, comes to us from the hand of Bramine Hubrecht. The whole thing is rendered in these beautiful, soft, and somewhat tentative pencil lines. What was she thinking when she made this? Was she interested in the planes of the face? Or was she more interested in the way the scarf wrapped around the young woman’s head? Maybe she was interested in the contrasts between light and shadow. The overall impression is one of calm contemplation, a kind of quiet hum. I see the way Hubrecht uses hatching to build up tone and volume. I think about the tradition of drawing and how it can communicate so much with so little. The softness of the pencil, the way it smudges and blends…it’s really beautiful! Painters are always in conversation with each other, you know? It makes me think about how we all learn from each other, steal from each other, and build upon what came before. There are no definitive readings, but the work stands as a site of inquiry for the artist and viewer.