Gezicht op Enkhuizen met de toren van de Zuiderkerk en een telefoonmast c. 1905 - 1920

Willem Bastiaan Tholen made this drawing of Enkhuizen, featuring the Zuiderkerk tower and a telephone mast, using pencil, pen and brush with gray ink. I really appreciate the delicacy of this rendering; I can almost imagine Tholen perched on a rooftop somewhere, carefully observing and noting the details of the scene before him. Look how he brings together the old and the new, the traditional architecture of the church tower juxtaposed with the modern intrusion of the telephone mast and its wires cutting through the sky. There’s a real push and pull here – a tension between the timelessness of the cityscape and the fleeting presence of modern technology. The light is soft and diffuse, softening the outlines of each form. You can see a kinship with Whistler and other artists who are concerned with atmosphere. It is these kinds of artworks that remind us that artists are in an ongoing dialogue, inspiring each other across time and space.