Landschap met bomen 1939 - 2009

Curator: Kees Stoop gifted us with this small graphite drawing, a landscape simply titled “Landschap met bomen," which translates to "Landscape with Trees." Though its creation date is broad, spanning from 1939 to 2009, its modest size makes it feel like a quick observation. What do you think when you first see it? Editor: Quietude. I’m struck by the simplicity, but not in a minimalist way. It’s more that everything feels hushed, like holding your breath in a snowy field. It's more gestural than hyper-detailed, and because it's so softly rendered in graphite, it’s very unassuming. Almost disappears into the white of the paper. Curator: Absolutely. The realism, or what feels realistic to our eyes, is actually created by these layers and almost chaotic lines—there is little solid mark-making. The artist captures form and shape via line and contrast, not solid masses. It gives the entire scene a type of "aliveness." Editor: You're right. The frenetic mark-making gives it this shimmering effect, as if the air itself is moving. Stoop worked during and after the Second World War; given the period during which this artwork could have been made, do you see reflections of that history in what you term this 'aliveness', in the almost anxious energy of the lines? Curator: It’s tempting to read anxiety into it, especially knowing Stoop's biography. The landscape genre is always about what is present or what is lost. In our contemporary moment, as in Stoop’s life, there is much lost, perhaps especially to our own future, in the state of the natural world. Stoop had returned to landscape during wartime as solace. Perhaps that peace is not represented perfectly in its visual construction; even in graphite there is the energy to push back on devastation and loss. Editor: The drawing feels almost like a memory, indistinct yet deeply felt. Thanks for pointing that out, it really is a subtle meditation. Curator: My pleasure! And now it is back to our future with our viewers. Thank you for adding further perspectives.