Ontwerp voor beeld van Christiaan de Wet c. 1873 - 1939

Joseph Mendes da Costa drew this design for a statue of Christiaan de Wet using graphite on paper. The drawing has a tentative but sure line, doesn’t it? I can imagine the artist circling the figure, looking, feeling, trying to get to the essence of the person. The human body is so strange, when you really look at it. How to capture its essence with a line? I like to imagine the artist thinking about how the sculpture will feel. It would have to be more than just a likeness. He probably considered the texture of the material, the way the light would hit it, and how the figure would be seen in space. All artists are in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas across time. We’re constantly inspired by each other’s creativity. Painting, drawing and sculpture is such an embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.