Ornament met acanthusbladeren voor een architectuurstudie c. 1890 - 1922

This ornament with acanthus leaves was sketched for an architectural study by Johanna van de Kamer, likely at the end of the 19th or early 20th century. It’s a pencil drawing, and right away you can see how the artist built it up with layers of shading, finding the form through a process of mark-making. Looking closely, you can see the pressure of the pencil shifting, creating darker and lighter areas that give the leaves their volume. The texture of the paper also plays a role, catching the graphite and adding a subtle graininess to the image. Notice the confident strokes that define the edges of the leaves, and the softer, smudged areas that suggest depth and shadow. The way the artist focused on certain areas, leaving others more open and undefined, feels very contemporary to me. This reminds me a little of the drawings of Luchita Hurtado, who also used simple materials to create these intimate and evocative images. It’s all about the conversation between the artist, the material, and the subject. There’s no right or wrong way to interpret it, and that's what makes it so interesting.