Vignet voor boek 'L'art Hollandais contemporain' van Paul Fierens 1930 - 1933

Leo Gestel made this ink drawing, Vignet voor boek 'L'art Hollandais contemporain', as a design for a book cover. You know, I'm really feeling the spontaneous, intuitive mark-making here. Those quick, bold strokes—they speak to the act of seeing and capturing something essential. I can imagine Gestel, maybe he's in a cafe, quickly sketching, trying to capture the essence of his subject in as few lines as possible. Look how the lines thicken and thin, suggesting form and shadow with such economy. What was he thinking? How does he do that? This reminds me of other artists who were also working with line and form. Guys like Matisse or Picasso, who were pushing the boundaries of representation. Gestel is part of that conversation, that exploration of what it means to see and depict the world around us. It's like artists are constantly responding to each other across time, remixing ideas and pushing things forward. It's lovely.