Part of a Portrait of Anthon van Rappard 1884

Vincent van Gogh made this study of Anthon van Rappard with a reed pen and ink on paper. The controlled, repetitive strokes that define Rappard’s features and hair are far from the frenzied brushwork that we typically associate with Van Gogh. The relatively prosaic medium of pen and ink is suited to the task. The artist used its linear precision to delineate the form of Rappard’s head, with careful attention to the fall of light across the face. The blank paper serves as a ground for his subject, but also emerges as a powerful element in itself. It is not so much a void, as a presence, throwing the study into high relief. Van Gogh was interested in the expressive potential of ‘common’ materials. He understood that the essence of art lay not in the cost or rarity of materials, but in the thoughtfulness of the hand that shaped them. This drawing, with its emphasis on process and understated beauty, challenges any hard distinction between fine art and craft.