Windmolen en een ontwerp voor een bonbonblik van de firma Van Houten 1890 - 1946

This is a sketchbook page by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, a windmill with a design for a chocolate box for the Van Houten company. It looks like it was made using graphite or charcoal. The lines are all quick and light, like he was trying to capture something ephemeral. I am really drawn to the windmill and the quick strokes used to create this. See how some of the lines are darker than others, creating a sense of depth? It feels like he’s mapping out the architecture and maybe even the feeling of being in the landscape. The box design is cool because it is not laboured. It is like an image within an image. This sketch reminds me of artists like Philip Guston, who were also interested in the power of a simple mark to convey something deeply human. Vreedenburgh isn’t trying to give us a perfect picture; he’s showing us his thinking process, and in art, that's where the magic happens.