Ontwerp voor een glas-in-loodvenster c. 1901

This is Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof’s sketch for a stained-glass window, made with graphite on lined paper. What strikes me about this piece is the contrast between the precision of the window design and the expressive quality of the medium, graphite. It's as if the artist wanted to capture the essence of light filtering through glass with the most direct and raw means possible. The smudged graphite around the edges creates a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere. Look at how the graphite is applied with varying pressure, creating a range of tones from soft grays to almost black. The subtle imperfections and variations in the lines give the piece a unique sense of depth and texture, which is interesting in the context of the intended design of stained glass. I’m reminded of Agnes Martin and her grid paintings, but where Martin uses color to create a feeling of almost imperceptible movement, Dijsselhof uses the physicality of graphite to suggest light and shadow. The work suggests an ongoing conversation about the nature of perception.