Annotaties 1914

Willem Witsen made this drawing, Annotaties, with graphite on paper. It looks like he was working something out, maybe the timing of an event, or the amount of time spent on something. I love the off-the-cuff, process-based aesthetic here. It's like you’re catching the artist in a moment of thought. The graphite is applied lightly, almost translucent in places, with layers of smudges and erasures, giving it a hazy, dreamlike quality. The diagonal line cutting across the numbers has an assertive quality to it, a decisive mark against the vagueness of the numerical equations. This piece reminds me of Cy Twombly's work, where writing and drawing become a kind of personal notation. Like a secret code, or a visual diary entry. It embraces imperfection, and in that way, it opens up a space for multiple readings. It could be about something very specific, or just an abstract meditation on time and space.