Palmboom, een olifant en een gekko c. 1916 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this gorgeous line drawing of a palm tree, an elephant and a gecko with graphite on paper. I can imagine the artist with their sketchbook out in the field, or maybe just dreaming it all up from memory. There’s this kind of simplicity in the rendering of forms, like the elephant's body, defined by a single curving line. It makes you wonder about the artist's focus. Was Stolk trying to capture the essence of these creatures and the tree, boiling them down to their most recognizable shapes? Or, were they just playing with the pure pleasure of line and form? The gecko, with its busy legs and upward gaze, feels especially alive. It’s like Stolk was thinking about movement, about the way the gecko climbs, reaching for something just out of sight. We painters, we're all in conversation with each other. Stolk may have been riffing on ideas from other artists, or maybe just answering a question in their own mind. Either way, it’s a beautiful, quiet moment captured on paper.