Boomstudie 1873 - 1932

This drawing of a tree was made by Wilhelmus Johannes Steenhoff. We don't know when, but it was done with graphite, probably en plein air. Look at the way Steenhoff’s pencil lines aren’t just describing the tree, they’re performing it. See how the nervous energy of the mark-making builds up the bark, the branches, the general sense of the tree against what looks like a brick building? The density of line speaks to a kind of haptic seeing: we’re meant to feel the tree, its gnarled texture, the way its branches reach and claw at the sky. It reminds me of Klimt's tree paintings, that same feeling of the life force made visible. Ultimately, Steenhoff’s drawing is about potentiality – that of the tree, and of artmaking itself. A simple study, but open to endless interpretations.