Bloem en een Afrikaanse vrouw die een kruik op het hoofd draagt c. 1916 - 1945

This is a sketch on paper by Reijer Stolk depicting a flower and an African woman carrying a jug on her head. It’s all about line here, tentative and searching. You can see the artist figuring things out as he goes, a process of discovery right there on the page. He makes a light suggestion of the flower, and it reads as a decorative motif. A kind of Persian lace, as the text notes. I love how the marks wobble and shift, full of second guesses. It’s as if Stolk is thinking aloud, allowing us to witness his decision-making. There is something so free and honest about this approach. It reminds me of the way Picasso would often leave his process exposed in his prints. You feel the artist’s hand and mind at work, not trying to conceal, but embracing the imperfections and accidents. This embrace of the imperfect, of the provisional, is what makes art so alive.