Staande man en verschillende gezichten c. 1936 - 1940

Henk Henriët made this drawing, Staande man en verschillende gezichten, with pencil on paper, and it's currently housed at the Rijksmuseum. It's like Henriët was warming up, figuring things out. The marks are so tentative, searching. Look at the standing man, how he's built up with these light, airy lines, almost a ghost of a figure. It's all about the process, the thinking, the feeling of the form emerging. The texture of the paper peeks through, adding another layer of lightness. Then there are all those faces, quick studies, each with its own character. The one at the bottom, with the pointy nose, feels almost like a caricature. It’s like he’s having a conversation with himself on the page. Henriët reminds me of Daumier, that same eye for the quirks of human nature, the same love of line. Art is always a dialogue, right? With the self, with the world, with other artists.