Grazende koe en koeienkop 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel drew this work, Grazende koe en koeienkop, with pen and black ink and graphite, just lines on paper, but they have a mass! I love the way the simple, almost cartoon-like head of the cow floats above the body like a thought bubble. Gestel captures the heft and weight of the grazing cow with such minimal means, a few lines describing the legs, the dark shading suggesting the animal's bulk. You can see the thinking at work, each mark a decision, a correction, a building up of form. There's a real tenderness in how he renders the curve of the cow’s back, the gentle slope of its head as it feeds. It reminds me of the drawings by Paula Modersohn-Becker and other early expressionists, this urge to get to the essence of form, but to still suggest the emotion and experience of living.