Man neemt zijn hoed af voor een vrouw 1870 - 1937

This untitled drawing of a man tipping his hat to a woman was made with pen and ink by an anonymous artist. The controlled lines of the cross-hatching, building up the shadows in the man's coat and the woman's dress, reminds me that artmaking is a dance. You take a step, the pen moves, then you respond to what's already there, adding another mark, and another. The artist isn't trying to hide the process; you can practically see their hand moving across the page. Look at how the lines create the texture of the fabric. Notice how the artist varies the pressure to create darker and lighter areas, giving the figures volume and weight. The slight diagonal lean in the man's posture is so evocative of awkward youthful formality. He looks like a cross between a Weegee subject and a character in a Jane Austen novel! It makes me think of other artists who capture these ordinary, fleeting moments of human interaction, like Edward Hopper or David Hockney. Art is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and interpreting the world around us, leaving space for multiple interpretations.