Portret van een onbekende man met snor 1887 - 1924

Julie de Graag made this small pencil portrait of an unknown, moustached man, sometime before 1924. It's all about the hatching here. See how she uses tiny parallel lines to build up the shadows and describe the forms? It's like she's knitting the face together with her pencil. Looking at the paper, I see how she really worked the surface, layering those lines to create different tones. The texture comes alive under her hand. I love the way she's handled the hair, those dark, scribbled lines give it so much volume, but then the face is rendered with delicate, almost tentative strokes. Notice how the hatching is more concentrated around the eyes and cheekbones, giving the face depth and character? It reminds me a little of some of the early modernist portraitists, like Modersohn-Becker, who were also trying to capture something essential about their subjects through simple means. It's a good reminder that art doesn't always have to shout to be heard; sometimes the quietest voices are the most powerful.