Toren in de steigers 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this pencil sketch, “Tower in Scaffolding,” at an undetermined date. Look at the web of marks, layered and hatched, as if the artist is feeling his way around the subject. It’s so process-oriented, isn’t it? I find myself focusing on the upper half, where the tower looms, enmeshed in a thicket of scaffolding. The pencil strokes are dense, almost frantic, as if Stolk is wrestling with the structure, trying to capture its essence. Then, in contrast, are the ghostly faces sketched loosely at the bottom; like afterthoughts or dreams. It brings to mind Piranesi’s etchings of imagined prisons, these Carceri d'Invenzione, with their dizzying perspectives and oppressive atmosphere. Like Piranesi, Stolk revels in the complexity of line, creating a world that is both architectural and deeply psychological. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the conversation, right? The questions, the doubts, the endless possibilities.