Rij huizen aan een waterkant 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this drawing, Rij huizen aan een waterkant, with pencil on paper. I can imagine Vreedenburgh standing on the banks of the canal, sketching, squinting, trying to capture the scene before him. There is a lightness of touch in the pencil marks, like he is dancing with the page, capturing the essence of the building and the sky above it. I wonder what he was thinking about as he was sketching? I bet he was caught up in the act of seeing and translating the world before him onto paper. And that sketchy sky! It feels so free, so unburdened. It reminds me of the way artists build on each other's work over time. I see echoes of Vreedenburgh's approach in contemporary drawing practices too. Drawing is a form of embodied expression, a conversation between the artist, the subject, and the medium. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.