Kop van een vrouw 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this sketch of a woman’s head at an unknown date, using what looks like a regular graphite pencil on paper. It’s all about the process of looking, feeling, and finding the form through a network of lines. Stolk doesn’t seem to be interested in erasing or hiding his tracks; you can see how he’s building up the image, line by line. I love the way the face emerges from a scribble of marks – a bit like life. Take the hair, for example. It is rendered with these rapid, almost frantic lines, giving it a real sense of movement and texture. Stolk reminds me a little of Egon Schiele with that raw, searching line. But where Schiele is all angular and intense, Stolk feels softer, more meditative. Ultimately, drawing is about possibilities and the beauty of searching, rather than knowing.