Handwerkende vrouw in een stoel c. 1904 - 1906

This pencil sketch, Handwerkende vrouw in een stoel, was made by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof. The immediacy of the line, so direct and economical, suggests a fleeting observation, a snapshot of daily life. It’s all about the process here. The artist isn’t trying to fool you with detail. See how the subject is simply rendered with a few quick marks? It is as if the artist wanted to capture not just the image, but the act of seeing itself. The woman, seated and crafting, is surrounded by the curves of a cat and a squirrel, each rendered with the same simple strokes. The beauty of this sketch lies in its ambiguity. There's a raw, honest quality in the unedited mark, a trace of the artist's hand that invites us into his world. I think of Agnes Martin, who used such limited means to say so much. Both artists seem interested in using the artwork to construct a different way of seeing and experiencing the world.