Landschap 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this landscape drawing with pencil, probably en plein air. What strikes me is the economy of means, so few marks conjure such depth and distance. Look how Vreedenburgh uses parallel lines to suggest the road receding into the distance, like a stage flat. Then there are those chunky, almost cubist blocks of shadow that might be hay bales or buildings. The texture is all in the layering of these lines, a kind of shorthand for the real world. It's less about representation and more about a feeling, a mood. The sketchiness reminds me of some of Guston's late drawings, that same sense of searching and not quite resolving. Art doesn’t have to answer all the questions; sometimes it's more interesting to leave things open.