Liggende naakte vrouw 1923

Reijer Stolk made this etching of a reclining nude, on paper. It’s all about the line, isn’t it? The way it describes a form, but also hints at the surface beneath. You can feel the artist finding their way, making corrections, and letting the character of the etched line stand for itself. Look at the way the hatching and line density creates a sense of shadow and volume. The plate tone left on the paper gives it a hazy, dreamlike quality that softens the starkness of the line work. There’s this tension between the precision of the etching technique and the freedom of the mark making, a balance between control and accident. Take the hairs around the pubis, it's such a busy area, it almost feels like it's been overworked. Stolk reminds me a little of Käthe Kollwitz, in the sense of her being equally interested in the human figure, and the expressive potential of printmaking. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the questions we ask, and the conversations we start.