Ovaal met een kop in profiel naar rechts, twee benen en een kop met gesloten ogen Possibly 1943

Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita made this drawing with graphite on paper, it’s called ‘Oval with a Head in Profile to the Right, Two Legs and a Head with Closed Eyes’. The way he uses line here is so economical. He gets so much out of so little, you know? It’s all about the suggestive power of the contour. Look at the loop of the oval and how the weight of the line shifts, thick to thin and back again. It’s almost like he’s feeling his way around the form. And then these interior lines, lightly sketched in, hinting at volume and depth. I keep thinking about how much drawing shares with the process of thought. It’s a way of figuring things out, of letting your hand lead the way. De Mesquita wasn’t interested in finish, he was interested in capturing a fleeting idea, a half-formed thought. Artists like Guston and Twombly, who weren’t afraid to embrace the messy, provisional nature of art-making come to mind. It’s a reminder that art is a process, not a product.