Twee reuzen en twee gezichten van reuzen c. 1936 - 1940

Henk Henriët made this drawing, "Twee reuzen en twee gezichten van reuzen," with a crayon, giving it a tentative, searching feel. The crayon’s touch is light, almost like a whisper on the page, as if Henriët is trying to capture something fleeting. Look at how the lines huddle together to form the giants' faces and figures. There’s a real tenderness in the way he coaxes these forms out of the paper. The texture of the crayon is soft, and the layering of lines creates depth where the giants loom largest. It reminds me of Redon's dreamlike charcoal drawings, where figures emerge from a haze of marks. Both artists share a willingness to embrace the ambiguous and the ephemeral, and suggest art is a process of discovery rather than a statement of fact.