Twee geabstraheerde figuren Possibly 1923 - 1924

Erich Wichmann made this drawing titled 'Twee geabstraheerde figuren' with graphite on paper. The title translates to 'Two Abstracted Figures', but really, these figures feel like they are emerging, or fading away, from the paper at the same time. The graphite isn’t overworked or blended to mimic form in a classical way, but instead, he's using the pencil to carve into the whiteness of the page. The contrast between light and shadow is stark, and that tension is where the drawing really lives. Look how the figures almost disappear where the graphite is at its lightest, or even absent. It reminds me a little of Marsden Hartley, in the way he tried to create a spiritual kind of abstraction, and how he used the landscape of his memories as a way to represent himself. It is a very strange, and very lovely little drawing.