Karikatuur van Leo Gestel 1911 - 1941

This caricature of Leo Gestel was made with pencil on paper, and there’s something about the raw, unedited quality of a sketch that I just love, especially when it's a peek into how an artist sees themself or another artist. It's like catching someone in the middle of a thought. Gestel’s lines are so economical here, they really nail that feeling of capturing a likeness with the fewest possible marks. There's a wobbly confidence to the way he's drawn the eye and that grin, and the way he's holding that square... maybe it's a painting? I can almost feel the scratch of the pencil on the paper, the quick decisions, the slight hesitations. You see this kind of playful self-examination in the work of Picasso and Matisse too. It's like they're saying, "Here I am, flaws and all," but with a wink. It reminds us that art doesn't always have to be polished, sometimes it's the rough edges that make it real.