Koe 1890 - 1946

This drawing of a cow, made by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, probably happened fast with a stick of graphite. It’s all about the process, isn’t it? The texture of this work resides in the seeing, as the graphite creates an almost palpable fuzziness; the texture of the cow is hinted at but it is really the artist's making of the cow that we are party to. Look at the confident diagonal lines of the shading. You can almost hear the scratch of the pencil across the page as Vreedenburgh captures the bulk of the animal. This reminds me of some of the animal drawings of Franz Marc, who also went for the essence of the beast rather than a photographic likeness. Art is not about showing something, but more about feeling something.