Afrikaanse vrouwen met hoofddoeken c. 1916 - 1945

This is a sketch of African women with headscarves by Reijer Stolk. What strikes me about this image is the use of line, the way the figures are rendered with such simplicity and economy. It’s as if Stolk is thinking through drawing, each line a tentative exploration. I'm drawn to the delicate tracery of the pencil on paper. It feels very immediate and raw, as though we're witnessing the artist’s first impressions, his initial encounter with these women. The lines are thin and spare, almost hesitant, but they accumulate to suggest form and volume. Look at the bottom right, the way the body is suggested by a single looping line. There's a vulnerability in its incompleteness, like a half-formed thought. And the writing across the image seems like an extension of the drawing, a parallel process of note-taking and recording. It reminds me a little of Cy Twombly, this casual and almost chaotic layering of marks. It celebrates the beauty of imperfection.