Vijf jongens houden een zwemwedstrijd before 1933

Hans Borrebach made this pen drawing, “Vijf jongens houden een zwemwedstrijd,” or, Five Boys Hold a Swimming Race, sometime in the twentieth century. The artist's hand is immediately evident in the way the ink is applied. You can almost feel the scratch of the pen. It's not about perfection, but the energy of a spontaneous gesture. The ink creates forms that are both representational and abstract. Look at the way the water is rendered, not as a smooth surface, but with quick, choppy lines. It's almost like the water itself is alive, mirroring the energy of the swimming boys. I'm drawn to how Borrebach uses the negative space to define the figures, leaving much to the imagination. The swimmers are reduced to the barest essentials, allowing the viewer to fill in the details. There’s a definite echo of earlier 20th-century cartoonists, like Lyonel Feininger, in this piece, but with its own peculiar charm and playful directness. It reminds us that art is a conversation, where artists build upon each other's ideas, remixing them in unexpected ways.