Gezicht op een straat of plein in Venetië 1914

Willem Witsen made this drawing of a Venetian street, sometime before 1923, with graphite on paper. You can see the process right there on the page: the artist capturing a moment, deciding what to include and what to leave out. There's a sense of immediacy, it's not labored over, the marks are quick, even a little messy. But the architecture still comes through. Look at the way he uses the side of the graphite to create areas of shadow, and then a sharper point to define the edges of the buildings. It’s kind of like a painter using a dry brush, dragging the pigment across the surface to create texture. I think of other artists who worked in Venice, like John Singer Sargent, who had a similar interest in capturing light and atmosphere. Art's this big conversation, right? Each artist responding to what came before, adding their own voice to the mix.