Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 8 recto 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this chalk drawing sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. It's soft and hazy, a bit like a memory. I can imagine the artist making the original drawing, maybe a little landscape, pressing it to this page, and voila, an 'abklatsch' – a transfer. I'm thinking about the intimacy of that process. The pressure, the chalk dust, the way the image is both there and not there, a ghost of itself. It's almost a print, but more immediate, more like a trace. There's something so intriguing about the way this technique captures the essence of a drawing. It's like seeing the artist's hand twice removed, but also somehow more present. It reminds me that art-making can be about simple gestures, about playing with materials and seeing what happens. Like a conversation across time, Vreedenburgh is asking us to slow down, to look closely, and to find beauty in the unexpected.