Studie, mogelijk een stilleven c. 1915 - 1920

Willem Witsen made this study, possibly for a still life, sometime between 1870 and 1923, using crayon. Look at the suggestive, smoky marks and lines. The artist appears to be thinking through the subject, making a series of exploratory marks, circling and hatching, to give form to something, like a few rounded fruits nestled in foliage perhaps? I can imagine Witsen’s hand moving rapidly across the page, pulled in different directions by the impulse to follow the contours of the subject. The marks build up areas of shadow and depth, while other areas remain undefined. Does the artist allow accidents to occur? Are they trying to make a virtue of, or learn something from, the incomplete? What do we see in its indeterminacy? The practice of drawing is always about seeing, feeling, and thinking in relation to the world around us. Each mark holds the potential for something new to emerge. Drawing is a conversation between artists across time, and we are all part of that lineage of mark-making.