Curatorial notes
Here, Jan Mankes made "Legs of a Girl" with pencil, on paper. It's all about the line, isn't it? Look at how the legs are defined by the simplest of marks. It’s like Mankes is feeling out the form, letting the pencil glide and stutter across the paper, finding the essence of a leg. It's a study in seeing, and not just seeing, but in recording that seeing, you know? The drawing's all about lightness, barely-there lines that suggest form rather than define it. There's a sensitivity there, a quiet intimacy. And that little foot, turned just so, it's like a whisper. It reminds me a bit of Whistler's drawings, that same sense of economy and suggestion. You get the sense Mankes had a respect for the process, and a trust in his materials. Ultimately, art is a conversation, a way of seeing that evolves over time. These legs are a perfect example of that.
