Gezicht op een brug in een stad 1876 - 1951

Theo Nieuwenhuis made this cityscape with pencil and chalk. Notice the tonality, the way the marks and smudges construct the image. The buildings seem to materialize from the fog, as if Nieuwenhuis was trying to capture a fleeting moment. The texture is really interesting; there’s a rough quality to the paper that comes through, and the chalk seems to grab onto that texture. The dark marks of the bridge contrast with the soft grays of the sky. Look at the bridge in the lower half of the image, the way it looms over the water, those dark heavy lines make the whole image seem a little ominous, don't you think? Nieuwenhuis really makes me think of Whistler, an artist who embraced a similar interest in atmosphere and tonal relationships, but it also connects to a much longer history of landscape art. Like many artists, Nieuwenhuis seems interested in artmaking as a process of inquiry.