Vrouw met een tulband op het hoofd naast een uil op een stok Possibly 1943

Editor: Here we have "Woman with a Turban on her Head next to an Owl on a Perch" by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, likely created in 1943. It’s an ink drawing, very linear, with a kind of stark, unsettling feeling. What do you make of it? Curator: Oh, this piece whispers of worlds unseen! De Mesquita had this incredible way of simplifying forms, distilling them down to these powerful, evocative lines. Look how he renders the turban – not as fabric, but as geometry. It's less about representing reality and more about capturing… an essence, wouldn't you agree? What does that bird symbolize to you? Editor: It's really striking. I almost missed the owl at first, it's so integrated into the composition. To me, it feels a little like a figure from a dream or a fable, some kind of commentary of good luck. But the date –1943–makes me wonder whether it should also suggest misfortune… Curator: Exactly! That date haunts the piece, doesn't it? The owl could be wisdom, yes, or a harbinger, but it can suggest solitude, even isolation. Knowing de Mesquita was later murdered at Auschwitz with his family in February 1944, how does that make the work resonate? Editor: I can see that the geometric composition becomes more like bars enclosing her. Perhaps she even anticipates the sense of foreboding or even death? This changes everything about how I view this work. It must have been the artist's own expression about their sense of self and circumstances. I imagine they feel threatened. Curator: Ah, you're right on the mark! Perhaps those lines became the bars of their reality as life began to fall apart. This makes us see how a simple ink drawing is also filled with a symphony of sorrow and emotions. That the true essence of modern art is found when you look from the personal lenses. Editor: Exactly! I won't see modern art as only technique from now onwards! Thank you.