Bloem c. 1916 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this flower drawing with pencil on paper. I am curious about this flower. It's been caught in the making, as if we can see through it. I can imagine Stolk thinking: how do I capture its essence with a few lines? The flower petals are carefully outlined, almost tentative, like he's feeling his way around their forms. You can sense him figuring it out as he goes, correcting lines, adding a little shadow. And that stem—it reminds me of bones, but also, somehow, the flower's spine. I love that the drawing has a kind of transparency, as if we are looking at an x-ray of a flower. It’s more than just a flower; it's the idea of a flower, made visible. I'm reminded of other artists who have used drawing to understand and communicate the natural world. It's an ongoing conversation, a dance between observation and imagination.