Abklatsch van een krijttekening 1890 - 1931

Willem Bastiaan Tholen made this print, "Abklatsch van een krijttekening," using chalk. The image hovers between clarity and abstraction. It’s like a memory fading, or a dream half-remembered. Look at the smudges and blurred lines. I wonder if Tholen was trying to capture the feeling of a place, rather than its exact appearance? Maybe he was outside and it started to rain, smearing the image. I imagine him standing there, charcoal in hand, squinting at the scene before him. There's a dialogue happening between the artist and the paper, a push and pull between intention and accident. This feels like a sketch that yearns to be something more. It reminds me that even in its incomplete state, there's beauty and authenticity. It's a conversation with art of the past while forging a path for future expression.