Annotaties c. 1893s - 1903s

This is one page of annotations by George Hendrik Breitner, and it’s like catching a glimpse of his thought process in action. The marks are tentative, searching, and there’s a real intimacy in seeing this level of unedited thought. Looking closely, the graphite has a kind of silvery sheen, catching the light in a way that’s almost luminous. The writing is layered and has a kind of all-overness to it, and this creates a sense of depth. This is a working document, not a polished performance, and I like that. It reminds me of Cy Twombly’s notebooks, where the act of writing becomes a form of drawing, and the line between language and image starts to blur. Like Twombly, Breitner seems to be using annotation as a way of thinking through seeing, and of feeling through thinking. For both artists, the meaning resides in the gesture.