Zelfportret: B-1-1, 4 februari Possibly 1942

Cor van Teeseling made this self-portrait in pencil on February 4th, likely sometime in the early 1940s. The first thing that strikes me is how lightly he’s touched the paper, almost as if he were feeling his way around his own face. Look closely, and you'll notice that the lines are tentative, searching. See how the shadows around the eyes and nose are built up with tiny, repeated strokes? There's a vulnerability in that softness, a sense of the artist wrestling with his own image, his own identity. You can almost feel the pressure of the pencil, the subtle variations in tone that create depth and volume. The drawing is very faint, and it feels like the artist is there but not there at the same time. It reminds me of some of Lucien Freud’s early drawings – that same intensity of observation, that same commitment to capturing the fleeting, fragile nature of human existence. Ultimately, this drawing is more about the act of seeing, the process of becoming, than about any fixed or finished idea.