Schets voor 'L'art Hollandais contemporain' van Paul Fierens (baadsters) 1932 - 1933

Here is Leo Gestel’s sketch in pencil of two bathers, a study for a larger painting commissioned by Paul Fierens. I wonder what Gestel was thinking about as he made this drawing. Do you ever get the feeling, looking at a drawing like this, that you can see the artist working? I mean, really working. You can see him thinking—adjusting his line and adjusting the position of the figures. I love the faceless faces! They are more like masks, or you could say that they look as if they were excavated from an ancient archeological site. They remind me of Picasso, but also the German Expressionist painter, Kirchner. And also, you know, maybe some folk art? I like that you can see Gestel is working something out, using the pencil to find the form. It’s as if he is in dialogue with his own vision, working out the geometry of the composition. Ultimately, all artists are in an ongoing conversation with one another, an exchange of ideas across time and space.