Abklatsch van een krijttekening 1890 - 1946

This transfer of a chalk drawing, by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, looks like it happened on a whim, or maybe by accident. I’m thinking about Vreedenburgh at work in his studio, perhaps on a grey, drizzly day in the Netherlands. He lays a sheet of paper over another drawing and rubs, trying to lift the image. It’s a subtraction, a rubbing away. Like the Shroud of Turin or something. What does he hope to reveal, or conceal? Look at the way the chalk clings, how it's been coaxed and cajoled across the surface! What kind of pressure did he apply? It makes me think about Rauschenberg erasing a de Kooning drawing; a dialogue with another artist, a gesture of respect, even love. Each artist learns from their predecessors, finding new ways to see, mark, and feel the world. Painting—drawing, printing—is always a conversation.