Brug over een kanaal 1919

Here’s a graphite on paper sketch of a canal bridge by Willem Cornelis Rip. Look at those quick, light lines! It’s like he’s chasing the scene, trying to capture it before it disappears, which makes me think about artmaking as a fleeting conversation with the world. The graphite is so delicate, almost like a whisper, but the strokes are confident, mapping out the basic geometry of the scene. The bridge itself is rendered with thicker lines, while the surrounding landscape fades into a haze of scribbles. Check out the reflection in the water, those loose marks could be anything! It reminds me a little of some of Whistler's etchings, that similar sense of atmosphere. It feels like Rip is talking to other artists across time, about seeing, about feeling, about life as a bridge over murky water, open to interpretation.