Meisjesportret met pop, B-1-1, 4 maart Possibly 1942 - 1944

Cor van Teeseling made this portrait of a girl holding a doll, in pencil on paper. Just look at that hat, perched on top of her head! It’s all sketched in such a flurry of lines – I can almost imagine the artist quickly, intuitively building up the forms. You get a sense of Teeseling responding to the girl in front of him with lively, energetic marks, trying to capture her likeness, sure, but also something of her spirit. I wonder what it was like for him to sit with this girl. Was she patient, or fidgety? Did he try to capture her exactly, or did he allow his imagination to play? It feels like a conversation, him watching, her sitting, both alive to the moment. I feel the artist sketching, his hand moving, adding tone and density. It reminds me that art is just people looking at things, and then trying to show us what they saw. It’s amazing.