Portret van Zus 1922

Otto Verhagen drew ‘Portret van Zus’ with graphite, and I’m immediately drawn to the tentative, searching lines that feel their way across the page. I imagine Otto hunched over the drawing, trying to pin down the essence of ‘Zus,’ maybe a nickname for his sister, or a friend. It’s dated 26-XI-22, so the drawing emerges from a particular time and place, one hundred years ago. The shading gives the face volume, but the lines, like the baby's hair, jut out in a way that makes the image vibrate with life. I wonder what Otto was thinking about as he made this. The little one stares out, almost daring the artist to capture the true depth of her soul. Drawing, like painting, is a dance between intention and accident. Verhagen has captured that beautiful tension here.