Zeemeeuw 1934 - 1936

This drawing of a seagull was made by Leo Gestel, though it's undated. It's lines of ink on paper, so it's interesting to see how Gestel used only line to describe form. I love how the varying thicknesses of the lines creates a kind of rhythm. It's almost musical the way the lines taper and swell. The lines build up to describe the seagull's feathers, and the density of the lines create darker areas that give the bird volume. But at the same time, the lines are flat and graphic, reminding me of woodcuts. Look at the seagull’s eye. It’s just a simple circle with a dot in the middle, but it gives the bird so much personality. Gestel is really economical here, suggesting form with just a few marks. You can see this economy of line in the work of someone like Picasso. It's all part of the same conversation, an ongoing exploration of how we can see and represent the world around us.