Studies 1890 - 1946

This drawing, “Studies” by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, is all about the joy of looking, made with what looks like graphite on paper. You can see Vreedenburgh working through ideas, letting the pencil glide and loop across the page. I love the way he's not trying to hide anything. The lines are tentative, searching, with numbers and annotations scrawled all over. There's a freedom in that kind of mark-making. Look at the way the central form is outlined—it's not precious or perfect, just a raw, honest attempt to capture what’s in front of him. The texture of the paper shows through, adding another layer of grittiness to the drawing. It's like a visual record of his thought process. Vreedenburgh reminds me a bit of Guston, in that both artists aren’t afraid to show the messy, imperfect side of artmaking. It's a good reminder that art is a conversation, an exploration, not a final statement.