Kop van een Huizer boer 1926

Johan Henri Gustaaf Cohen Gosschalk rendered this portrait, "Kop van een Huizer boer," with what looks like colored chalk or pastel on paper, resulting in a hazy, soft-focus image. It's all about process: the marks build up to create this man’s likeness. I am struck by the way the artist’s hand lingers on the ruddy cheeks of his sitter, the blueish tone of his eyes. The colors are subtle, like a memory fading in time, yet the texture has a palpable quality to it, you can almost feel the roughness of the paper beneath. The overall effect is both intimate and distant, like overhearing a conversation across a crowded room. There's something about the directness of this portrait that reminds me of the work of Alice Neel, another artist who wasn't afraid to capture the raw humanity of her subjects. Like Neel, Gosschalk seems less interested in perfect representation and more invested in conveying the essence of a person, and art, after all, is about asking questions rather than providing answers.