Portretten van een man en vier vrouwen 1890 - 1922

Johanna van de Kamer made this sketch of a man and four women with graphite on paper, and when I look at it I imagine her, a turn-of-the-century artist, rapidly drawing, circling the image, trying to get it right. There's a real tenderness in the marks, a gentle wandering as she tries to capture something she sees. You can almost feel the movement of her hand and the pressure of the pencil on the paper. The faces are smudgy and soft and slightly haunting, all tilted at an odd angle. The drawing feels like a quick study, like she’s exploring these faces, figuring out the angles and planes, searching for a way to bring them to life on the page. It makes me think about the connection between artists across time, the shared struggle and joy of trying to capture something fleeting and make it permanent. You know?