Zeilschip aangemeerd aan een kade in een baai 1900 - 1931

This sketchbook study of a sailboat by Willem Bastiaan Tholen is rendered in simple pencil strokes on a double page spread. The marks are tentative, dashed off, quick. On the right-hand page, the linear strokes form a cluster of vertical and diagonal marks that represent the boat, figures, and architectural forms that make up the harbor. The pencil lines create a sense of depth and volume; the shading is not just descriptive, it is also expressive. What I love about this piece is that it shows the artist at work, thinking through form with simple materials. I see something of Kirchner here, in the use of a raw and direct approach, and the emphasis on line and form over detail, but maybe that’s just me. Ultimately, it is these incomplete sketches that sometimes reveal the most about artmaking as a process, rather than a product.