Abklatsch van een krijttekening 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this chalk drawing, or maybe a copy of a chalk drawing, it’s hard to tell from the title, and that’s ok! I like not knowing. The thing that catches my eye is how faint the image is. It’s like a ghost of a building, or maybe just the idea of a building. The smudgy gray marks are so delicate, it feels like they could disappear at any moment. There’s a real sense of process here; you can almost see Vreedenburgh’s hand moving across the paper, gently coaxing the image into being. Look at the way the chalk is distributed; it’s heavier in some areas, lighter in others, creating this wonderful sense of depth and atmosphere. It reminds me a little of some of the early impressionist painters, like Whistler, who were also interested in capturing fleeting moments and ephemeral effects. But unlike those paintings, there’s nothing romantic about this work. It’s much more humble, honest, and straightforward. And that’s precisely what makes it so appealing to me.