Stoel met biezen zitting 1914

Jan Mankes made this drawing of a chair with a cane seat with pen and ink. I love how the simple lines create an evocative image with so few means. Look at the chair itself, and the way the seat is rendered with cross-hatched lines; it gives the impression of texture, the way you might feel the weave with your fingers. The chair is placed so that it dominates the image but the open window in the background gives the image depth. A simple composition but the repetition of horizontal lines—in the window frame, the landscape, and the rungs of the chair—creates a kind of harmony. Mankes, who died so young, left a small but beautiful body of work. His images share a quiet intimacy; comparing this piece with his paintings you can see how he brought the same sensibility to different media. You could say he has something in common with Hammershoi, in his quiet, contemplative studies of interiors.