Kleine zeilboot in het water bij de duinen 1901

This small image of a sailboat was drawn by Jan Toorop sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Look how the lines are kind of scratchy and raw, like he’s really digging into the surface of the plate. You can almost see him working, pushing and pulling the needle, trying to capture the feeling of the water and the boat bobbing in the waves. I bet Toorop felt the wind whipping around as he drew this scene. There’s a whole history of printmaking there, of artists figuring out how to capture light and movement with just a few simple marks. It reminds me a little bit of Whistler, who was also playing with these kinds of fleeting impressions. Ultimately, every artist is trying to figure out how to distill the world down to its essence, and then share that essence with others. We all stand on each other's shoulders.