Liggende vrouw in een jurk 1929

This is a drawing by Otto Verhagen of a woman in a dress, or maybe two women in dresses, made with graphite on paper. I’m immediately drawn to the contrasting poses. What was Verhagen thinking about, what’s the link between the woman walking and the one lying down? Is it a study of movement versus repose? I love how simple but evocative it is. I can feel Verhagen’s hand moving across the page, quickly capturing the essential gestures of the figures. The lines are so economical, like rapid notations. It reminds me of Matisse’s drawings somehow – that same sense of capturing the essence of a form with just a few strokes. Drawing is like thinking, a direct line to the brain, or maybe like dancing, where the body leads and the mind follows. The materiality of the paper adds another layer, you can almost imagine the soft resistance of the surface against the pencil. It’s all part of the conversation artists have with each other across time, learning and borrowing and transforming.