Gezicht op huizen en de Drommedaris, de stadspoort van Enkhuizen, aan de Oude Haven 1900 - 1931

Willem Bastiaan Tholen drew this sketch of houses and the Drommedaris in Enkhuizen with graphite on paper. Look at the marks! Long, wispy, vertical lines to the left, like rain or mist, capture the atmosphere. To the right, the architecture of the port emerges tentatively, the artist mapping out the scene. I wonder what Tholen felt as he stood there, squinting at the light on the buildings. The pencil feels so immediate and direct, like he’s thinking through seeing. The quick, searching lines show us how an artist makes sense of the world, grabbing the essence of a place. The drawing is economical, but somehow I get a sense of the place. The way artists like Tholen see informs how we see, even today. They're in conversation with us, and we with them.