Jongen en meisje gevolgd door een kat 1895 - 1950

Nelly Spoor created this drawing, Jongen en meisje gevolgd door een kat, with ink on paper. There’s an enchanting simplicity to this picture, a focus on mark-making as a fundamental part of artmaking. It's the kind of drawing where you can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the page. Look at the cat's fur, depicted with short, rhythmic strokes that suggest texture and movement, or the long strokes which define the shadow. The lines aren’t just outlines; they bring the characters to life, hinting at their personalities and the narrative of the scene. I like how the texture seems to flatten and abstract the image, and how Spoor uses this quality to imbue the work with a sense of whimsy. Spoor’s work reminds me a little of Edward Gorey. Both capture a certain playfulness with a similar economy of line and tone, reminding us that art is really just a big, ongoing conversation, a game of telephone across time. It’s a conversation where definitive answers are less important than the questions we ask.