Vrouw achter een tekentafel 1890 - 1922

Johanna van de Kamer made this drawing of a woman behind a drawing table, we don't know exactly when, but it feels like looking over her shoulder. The immediacy of the mark-making really draws me in. With just a few lines, she captures the scene, it’s almost like she’s sketching her thoughts. What was on her mind as she drew? Was she capturing another artist at work, or just a woman lost in her own world? I sympathize with her impulse to record what she saw, the quickness of the hand, the need to catch the essence of a moment. It reminds me of other artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also had a knack for portraying women in quiet, intimate settings. They’re all in conversation, these artists, inspiring each other across time. And maybe that’s what painting is all about—a constant exchange, a way of seeing and being seen, never fixed, but always in motion.