Drinkende Nieuw-Guineeërs before 1936

This pen drawing by F. Ockerse is full of crisp lines and contrasts. I can imagine the artist's hand moving across the page, hatching and cross-hatching to create the rich, dark tones that define the figures and foliage. There's a real sense of place here – you can almost feel the humidity and the shade under that banana leaf parasol. I wonder what Ockerse was thinking as they rendered these New Guinean figures drinking. Were they trying to capture a specific moment, or were they more interested in the formal qualities of the composition? I keep thinking about the way the artist used the hatching to build up the forms, creating a sense of depth and texture. It reminds me of the way that Hockney sometimes uses line to describe form, with a similar desire to capture the essence of a scene, filtered through the artist’s unique sensibility.