Tafelpoten c. 1901

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof sketched these ideas for 'Tafelpoten', or table legs, on paper sometime between 1880 and 1924. It’s so simple, just a few lines, but it opens up a whole world of possibilities, right? Dijsselhof ’s process feels so immediate here. The pencil marks are light and quick, and you can almost see him thinking through the different forms as he goes. I love the way he plays with geometry, mixing curves and straight lines to create these quirky, unexpected shapes. Look at the bottom left, the way those angular lines come together to form a kind of faceted jewel-like foot. It’s so different from the more rounded forms above, but they all share this sense of playful invention. For me, the sketch evokes the functional drawings of Sol LeWitt, but equally, the biomorphic, playful forms of Joan Miró. Art is an ongoing dialogue, you know? Different artists riffing on the same ideas, generation after generation.