Neptunus 1880 - 1932

Henri van der Stok’s ‘Neptunus’ print, made sometime between the late 19th and mid 20th century, presents a bold, graphic face in black ink on paper. I love how the image emerges so directly out of mark-making. You can see the artist carving away at the block, figuring out how to conjure this sea god with stark lines. The eyes are closed, but the mind's eye is open; above, a Star of David radiates light. I imagine van der Stok really wrestling with that block, deciding where to leave the surface untouched and where to dig in, to reveal something hidden, or perhaps something ancient. It feels so immediate, like a direct connection to some early form of image-making. The trident beard is killer. The whole image has that intense, slightly unsettling directness that I find so compelling in the work of artists who keep it raw and real. Like a Cy Twombly scrawl, it speaks to the enduring power of simple gestures, of using available tools to ask big questions.