Les Angles 1934

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this black ink drawing of Les Angles sometime between 1900 and 1943, that’s the span of his lifetime. I'm really seeing the shapes in this drawing. Can you feel how the artist had to reduce a 3D scene into flattened shapes that would work with ink? The composition looks almost like a stage set. Everything's arranged just so, and there's this theatrical light falling across the buildings. Imagine Schelfhout there, looking at the real view of the buildings, thinking about how to interpret the colors into shades of ink. It’s fascinating how he's simplified the scene, reducing each form to its essence. I can almost see him squinting, deciding which lines to keep and which to let go. It’s like he's in conversation with Cezanne, who also tried to capture the essence of the landscape. But where Cezanne used color, Schelfhout uses line and tone. I'm so interested in artists having a go, each adding their own touch to the story of art.