Drawing for the primer_ Cat c. 1905

Hans Thoma made this drawing of a cat, sometime in the 19th or early 20th century, presumably with ink on paper. Look how he’s built up the image bit by bit, almost like he's feeling his way around the subject. There’s something so alive about these kinds of drawings, where you can really feel the artist working, thinking, making decisions. Thoma’s mark making feels quite searching. See how the shading on the cat’s back is made up of these tiny, almost frantic lines? They give the fur a real sense of texture, you can almost feel the softness of it. And the way the lines are used to create the ground, all these quick, parallel strokes, it’s almost like a stage. It's as if he’s not just depicting a cat, but capturing a moment, a feeling. Like a quick sketch by Manet, there's a shared interest in the everyday, but the process is completely different. Ultimately, art is an open-ended dialogue, where different voices and visions come together.