Zelfportret met pet: B-1-1, 26 januari Possibly 1942

Cor van Teeseling made this self-portrait with graphite on paper on January 26th. You can see the date at the bottom right of the page. The thing that gets me is the pressure of the graphite. It's not even, you know? Like, look at the hat. There's this real density, a kind of anxious scribbling, compared to the face, which is so smooth and shaded. The expression is placid, but the hat says something different, like the artist is churning inside. I love the way you can see the individual marks, the hatching that builds up the form. It's so immediate, so human. It reminds me of the drawings of Alfred Leslie, a similar kind of directness and vulnerability. Both artists use line to describe not just what they see, but how they feel, making room for more than one idea or feeling at once.