Ruiter en een knielende figuur 1914 - 1919

Willem Cornelis Rip made this graphite drawing, "Ruiter en een knielende figuur," directly in a sketchbook, probably in front of the subject. There's a real sense of immediacy in the sketch. The whole thing is rendered in these broken, searching lines, with a soft, almost smudged quality, which suggests the artist was interested in capturing a fleeting moment. Look at the marks that describe the horse's back, they aren't continuous, but broken and layered, a way of building up form gradually, adjusting and refining as the image takes shape. I find myself drawn to the contrast between the solid, vertical lines of the horse and rider, and the more horizontal, gestural marks of the figure. It's almost like Rip is playing with different modes of representation, a tension between observation and invention. This reminds me of the drawings of Van Gogh, where the energy of the mark is just as important as the subject itself. Ultimately, the sketch remains open and unresolved, inviting us to imagine what might happen next.