Karikatuur van een letterkundige 1923

Erich Wichmann made this caricature of a literary figure with pencil on paper, and it's all about the energy of the line. Look how the side of the head is built up with these soft, almost smudged marks, creating a sense of depth and volume. And then, in contrast, you've got these crisp, clean lines defining the profile. It's like Wichmann is thinking out loud, feeling his way around the form. The texture of the paper itself becomes part of the drawing. You can almost feel the tooth of it, grabbing onto the graphite. And that little scribble of text at the bottom? It's like a key, or maybe a red herring. It adds another layer of mystery to the whole thing. To me, it looks a little like the work of George Grosz, who similarly used line to convey feeling. It's all part of the conversation, you know?