Band met een floraal motief c. 1901

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof made this floral band design with graphite on paper. It makes you wonder what Dijsselhof might have been thinking as he made this, right? I imagine him, perhaps with a collection of botanical books nearby, but really just letting his hand move, feeling the push and pull of the graphite on the page. See how the blossoms and leaves emerge from the page with just a few dark strokes, the lines curling and unfurling in this little vertical garden. There's something so immediate about a drawing like this. You can almost feel the artist’s breath as he figures out what each form might be and how to capture it in his own way. It feels like a secret language between Dijsselhof and the plant world, and we get to eavesdrop on their conversation. Artists are always in dialogue, aren't they? With each other, with the world around them, riffing on themes, adding their own little spin.