Verliefde ketellapper 1873 - 1932

Wilhelmus Johannes Steenhoff made this drawing, Verliefde ketellapper, using graphite on paper. Look at how the pencil lines build the image. I bet Steenhoff was just goofing around, trying to catch someone's likeness on the fly. There's a lot of hatching and cross-hatching to build up tone, which creates a sense of depth. You can see the artist figuring things out as he goes along, like how the lines around the eyes and mouth suggest a particular expression or mood. And check out those stray marks and smudges, they give the drawing a raw, immediate feel, like it was done quickly and without a lot of fuss. I can really feel the artist's hand in this work. It reminds me of some of my own sketches! It's like a conversation across time, isn't it?