Heuvellandschap met industrie 1913

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this landscape with industry on paper with brush and autographic ink. Look at the sharp contrast between light and dark. He is not messing around! I imagine Schelfhout must have been walking around, maybe even living, in an industrial area, observing and absorbing the environment, before trying to capture it. I can almost see him outdoors with a pad in his lap, translating all the pipes, smoke and structures into his own language of marks and tones. The way the light floods down, it's as if he's channeling some sort of divine revelation. I love how the landscape is both ominous and uplifting. So much is implied through the marks he makes with brush and ink. What a conversation between nature and industry! There is such sensitivity in how he creates space and light. He's showing us a way of seeing the world.