Zeegezicht met bebouwing in de verte c. 1920

Johan Antonie de Jonge captured this seascape with building in the distance in graphite, probably in the late 19th or early 20th century. There's a real feeling for process here; the artist is working quickly, trying to capture a specific atmospheric moment. I love the way the graphite has been smudged and blurred, especially in the sky, to give a sense of movement and impending weather. The marks are very responsive to the material world, and the way the graphite gathers in the paper's tooth makes you want to reach out and touch it. It’s a great lesson in how to keep things loose, and how an unfinished quality can sometimes communicate more than a highly polished one. For me, the mark-making in the sky relates to the mark-making in the sea - they are almost mirroring each other. You can see how a drawing like this might inform the paintings of someone like James Whistler, who was also interested in the subtle gradations of tone and the evocation of mood.