Vliegtuig 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this sketch, Vliegtuig, with graphite on paper. The lines are tentative, searching, like the artist is feeling his way around the subject. You can see the ghost of previous marks, where he's adjusted and refined the forms. I love that! It shows the thinking, the process. I wonder if Stolk was fascinated by the mechanics of flight, or perhaps dreaming of escape? Maybe he was thinking about movement, speed, the future. The lightness of touch gives the image a kind of ethereal quality, as if the plane exists more as an idea than a solid object. It reminds me of some of Paul Klee's playful, whimsical drawings, full of invention and imagination. Artists borrow, steal, and riff off each other all the time. This piece shows the beauty of an unfinished thought, a moment of pure creative exploration. We're invited to complete the image, to let our own imaginations take flight.