Studieblad med javanske kvinder, f.o.t.v. profilhoved 1921

Svend Rathsack made this study sheet of Javanese women, a series of pencil sketches, probably in the early part of the 20th century. The marks are tentative, searching; lines laid down and then adjusted, a real sense of the artist working through the image. I find my eye drawn to the figure viewed from the back. The artist has captured the fall of the cloth, the line of the spine, the set of the shoulders with a delicate touch. The slight asymmetry of the figure gives it a sense of life, a feeling of movement. Look at the hands. The hands are only lightly indicated, yet they feel complete. This reminds me of the work of David Hockney, especially his drawings, in the way he captures a likeness with such simple means. Like Hockney, Rathsack invites us to see the world with fresh eyes, to appreciate the beauty in the everyday. This piece embraces the beauty of ambiguity and the poetry of the unfinished.