Krantenknipsel uit archief Jan Veth 1904 - 1912

This newsprint clipping, preserved in the archive of Jan Veth at the Rijksmuseum, presents a fascinating array of images, rendered with a casual, almost tossed-off quality. You get the sense that the artist or artists were less concerned with perfection and more interested in quickly capturing a likeness or mood. Take, for instance, the gentleman in the top hat. The lines are sure, but there’s a looseness to his coat, a slight awkwardness to his posture. It's not trying too hard. Then you’ve got these lion portraits, all sketchy and shadowed, like fleeting impressions rather than formal studies. The whole thing feels like a sketchbook page, ideas in progress, not necessarily meant for posterity, yet here we are! It’s a reminder that art is a constant conversation, a back-and-forth between artists and ideas, often messy, unresolved, and all the more interesting for it. Think of someone like Philip Guston, in his later work, embracing the clunky, the awkward, the deliberately "bad" as a way of getting to something more authentic. This clipping has a similar vibe, a kind of pre-punk, "anything goes" energy.