Figuren die lasten trekken 1906 - 1945

These rapid sketches by Reijer Stolk show figures bearing burdens, quickly drawn with graphite on paper. I’m thinking about Stolk, pencil in hand, searching, and seeing his drawings emerge. Imagine the artist as they feel their way through these forms. I see the quick, searching lines, the ghost of erasures. The artist’s hand moved rapidly, capturing the essence of figures under duress. Do you feel the weight these figures carry, how their bodies bend and strain? What are they carrying? What’s at stake? You can see a tension between abstraction and figuration. They remind me of Käthe Kollwitz’s drawings of burdened figures and victims of war. It's like artists are in this never-ending conversation.