Sketches: Figures and Animals 

Here we see Thomas Gainsborough's exploratory drawing, "Sketches: Figures and Animals," rendered with delicate strokes of brown ink on paper. The composition is immediately striking for its arrangement of forms that suggest a dreamlike space. The materiality of the ink lends itself to a certain openness; the figures of animals and humans dissolve into the ground as if caught mid-thought. The sketches offer a glimpse into Gainsborough’s process, revealing his interest in the semiotic potential of line. The way the horses are rendered, their forms incomplete yet suggestive, creates a tension between presence and absence. This tension is further complicated by the contrast between the detailed lines of the human figure and the more abstract representation of the animals, destabilizing traditional hierarchies of representation. Gainsborough invites us to consider how the act of sketching can challenge fixed meanings, and play with representing perception.