Figuurstudie 1906 - 1945

This sketch, "Figuurstudie" by Reijer Stolk, probably made with a pencil, is like a fleeting thought captured on paper. The network of lines, scratchy and overlapping, aren't trying to define a solid form. They feel more like they're mapping a process of seeing. Look at how the shading on the figure’s coat is made up of many parallel lines, like a kind of shorthand that still manages to convey depth and shadow. It's all about gesture and movement, a dance between eye and hand. I get the sense that Stolk wasn't necessarily interested in perfect representation, but rather in the act of trying to understand the world through drawing. That little knot of scribbles that forms the head is where my eye keeps returning. It's barely there, yet it anchors the whole composition. It reminds me of Giacometti's drawings, that same searching quality, that attempt to grasp something just beyond reach. It’s a great example of how art can embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations.