Gezichten van twee mannen c. 1916 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this drawing, "Gezichten van twee mannen," with pencil on paper, though we don't know exactly when. I love the immediacy of this sketch, it's all about the process. The lines are so raw, so direct. You can almost feel Stolk's hand moving across the page. The marks aren't precious, but rather exploratory, searching for the form. The upper face is built up through a series of tentative lines. You can see how he's feeling his way around the shapes, adjusting and refining as he goes. Then there's the cross-hatched column to the right, which to me feels like a visual grounding, a little system in the middle of these floating heads. It reminds me of the directness and honesty of late drawings by Guston. Both artists allow us to see their thought processes, embracing the messiness and uncertainty of making art.