Landschap met bomen en een ornament 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this pencil drawing of a landscape with trees and an ornament, in the Netherlands, sometime before his death in 1945. While undated, the juxtaposition of natural and heraldic motifs invites us to consider Dutch identity in a time of great upheaval. The upper section shows a quick sketch of a forest rendered in a flurry of diagonal strokes, while the lower section features a carefully framed heraldic shield, perhaps a family crest or a civic emblem, which includes a prominent wheel. What does it mean to place an emblem of social hierarchy above an image of nature? The period saw great change in the Netherlands, and this drawing provides an intimate glimpse into one artist’s attempt to reconcile tradition with the shifting realities of the 20th century. Art historians look at such sketches alongside other period documents to consider the way artists reflected on and reacted to their changing world.