Hoofden en gezichten 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel’s ‘Hoofden en gezichten’ is a flurry of graphite on paper where faces emerge from a textured background. Just look at how the pencil marks swarm around, creating forms that feel both intentional and accidental. I can imagine Gestel, hunkered over this drawing, letting his mind wander. He probably started with one face, then another popped up beside it, morphing, shifting like faces in a dream. There’s a table of numbers on the left. What does it mean? Is it a reminder of something, or a reference to one of the Cubist grids that were going around at the time? Maybe he wanted to make fun of those grids by turning them into something figurative. Look at the way the faces overlap; it reminds me of Picasso or Braque, but also the way folk artists cram everything into one frame. Gestel’s really playing with how much information we can take in at once, inviting us to piece together our own story from the chaos. It's like he's saying, "Here are some thoughts, some faces, now you figure it out."