Gezicht op Arnhem aan de Rijn 1919 - 1921

Willem Cornelis Rip made this drawing, Gezicht op Arnhem aan de Rijn, with graphite on paper. It looks like he's rapidly mapping out the scene before him, capturing the essence of the river and its surroundings with a kind of shorthand. See how he's built up the forms of the architecture and boats with layered strokes, a flurry of marks that coalesce into recognizable shapes. I can almost feel the urgency and energy in his hand as he’s making this. You know, sketching like this is such a great way for artists to work things out, to ask, what is it I'm really seeing? What do I want to capture? And how do I translate that into line and form? Rip's work reminds me of other landscape artists who were similarly engaged in capturing fleeting moments in nature, each bringing their own sensibility to the task. It’s like we’re all in this ongoing conversation, riffing off each other’s ideas.