Stoomschip op het IJ te Amsterdam c. 1903

Here's a quick sketch of a steamship on the IJ in Amsterdam by George Hendrik Breitner. The page is divided right down the middle, which makes me think about process, about the way things emerge. Look at those sparse pencil lines, all jaggedy and unsure as if Breitner is thinking out loud with his pencil. I can almost feel him searching for the form of the ship, trying to capture the light on the water, or maybe just the feeling of being there. The boat has lots of scaffolding, which makes me think of construction. Is he building, or unbuilding? It reminds me of a sketch by Guston, all tentative and searching, an artist trying to figure something out in real-time. It shows that sometimes the most interesting part of art is the thinking and doing, not necessarily the finished product. It’s that conversation between the artist and the paper that I find so compelling.