Hoofden van mannen en vrouwen 1890 - 1922

Here, in this unassuming sheet of paper, Johanna van de Kamer captured, with graphite, a series of heads, men and women in profile. The beauty of this sketch lies in its simplicity. It's all about the process, isn't it? Look at the way she uses line—so light, so tentative, almost as if she's feeling her way around the forms. You can almost see her hand moving across the page, trying to capture the essence of each face. I'm drawn to the head at the upper left. The hatching that describes the form of the face is so delicate, yet so expressive. It's like she's not just drawing a face, but also trying to capture something of the person's inner life. It reminds me of the drawings of Käthe Kollwitz, who also had a way of capturing the weight of human experience with just a few simple lines. Art isn't about answers, it's about the conversation.