Portret van een onbekende man 1907

Frederika Henriëtte Broeksmit made this portrait of an unknown man using graphite, and it's all about line and shadow. The artist coaxes her dark material to conjure form from the pale paper. I wonder about Broeksmit, hovering over her drawing, squinting, moving back and forth. Maybe she built this face bit by bit. Look at the dark, shadowed side of the nose, the way it subtly suggests the far cheek. It makes me think of Morandi searching for the form in his bottles. She layers marks to build up tone and volume – such diligence. The whole thing feels tentative, tender, like an act of care and attention. These portraits are like conversations across time. Every artist is looking, responding, talking back. Think of Van Gogh’s portraits of working-class men. Maybe Broeksmit knew them. Maybe they whispered to her as she worked. It's about this back and forth, a kind of human relay race that is an act of love, and that’s what art’s all about.