Gezicht op Traunfall 1922 - 1926

Reijer Stolk’s ‘Gezicht op Traunfall’, made sometime before 1945, is an image of a waterfall, seen through a lens of mark-making that's direct and full of intention. Imagine Stolk there with his ink, drawing out the image that he sees before him! You know, I always think about the artist standing in front of the scene, trying to wrangle the chaos of the world into some kind of order on paper. The bridge is a series of lines that create a structure through which people are moving - I wonder what they thought of the scene? And then there's the waterfall itself, the curves that suggest the flow of water, the contrast with the solid lines of the bridge and the rigid structure of the landscape in the background. It reminds me a little of German Expressionist woodcuts from the early 20th century, where artists like Kirchner and Heckel were using bold lines and simplified forms to convey intense emotions. It makes you wonder what it was like for Stolk!