Aan het front geen nieuws 1918

Willem van Schaik made this drawing ‘Aan het front geen nieuws’ with ink or graphite on paper. It’s hard to be sure exactly when, the date is unclear, but it's fair to say it’s a piece made in difficult times. There's a starkness here, an emptiness in the monochromatic palette that really hits you. The marks are raw, almost clumsy, but deliberate. You can see each stroke, each decision, laid bare on the surface. The texture of the paper becomes part of the drama, like a stage for this bleak scene. I’m drawn to the way the artist renders the figures, they appear weighed down by the heaviness of the landscape around them. That single hand reaching up from the abyss, it says everything. You can almost feel the cold, the desperation. It's a simple gesture, but it speaks volumes about loss and futility. It’s a reminder of how art can cut through the noise and speak directly to our shared humanity. I’m reminded of Goya’s Disasters of War, there’s a similar directness. For me, pieces like this remind us that art is so much more than just aesthetics, it’s a way of grappling with the messy, complicated reality of being alive.