Kop 1840 - 1880

Johannes Tavenraat created this head study with pen in brown ink and brush in brown and gray ink. The sketch presents an elderly figure in stark profile. Note the dominance of line, a network of strokes creating the textures and contours of the face. Tavenraat employs hatching to suggest depth, cross-hatching for shadow, especially around the eyes and mouth, giving the face a weathered, almost topographic quality. The ink wash pools in the background and around the neck, anchoring the figure in an ambiguous space. The emotional impact derives less from expression and more from the formal qualities: the stark contrast, the roughness of the lines, and the sheer economy of means used to convey age. The cross-hatching not only models form but creates an almost grotesque texture. This work presents a study in the dialectic between line and form, between representation and expression. Note how Tavenraat’s emphasis on line destabilizes the conventional portrait, moving towards abstraction.