Portretten van twee Afrikanen c. 1916 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this drawing, ‘Portretten van twee Afrikanen’ using what looks like pencil on paper. The artist really goes for it with these scribbled lines – you can feel the movement of the hand. Look at the way the faces are built up, it's all about capturing a likeness with the fewest marks possible. It's like Stolk is thinking through the process of drawing, letting us see every adjustment and correction. There's a wonderful immediacy here, a real sense of the artist's presence. The texture of the paper peeks through the marks, adding another layer of visual interest. It reminds me a little of Matisse’s line drawings, that same kind of effortless-seeming quality. But, there's something uniquely Stolk here too – maybe it's that raw, unfinished energy.