Kop van een koe 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk sketched this ‘Kop van een koe’ using pencil on paper, like a quick thought jotted down. I imagine Stolk, out in the fields maybe, quickly trying to capture the essence of this cow. You know, those fleeting moments when the light hits just right, or the cow turns its head in a certain way. The lines are so economic. I love how he’s used these scribbled lines to suggest the fur and the solid planes of its head. See how the zigzags above the cow create this sense of movement, maybe the buzzing of flies, or just a general pastoral buzz? It reminds me a bit of some of Picasso's animal sketches - that same energy and life. It’s like Stolk is trying to distill the very idea of ‘cow’ into a few strokes. It shows how artists, through these simple gestures, engage with the world around them, constantly interpreting and reimagining.