Ornamenten met vissen, ruiten en een hart uit Calabar c. 1916 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this sketchbook page, "Ornamenten met vissen, ruiten en een hart uit Calabar," with a graphite pencil, sometime before 1945. The lines are so tentative, almost like he's feeling his way through these forms. It’s like he's thinking out loud with his pencil. Look at the way the graphite sits on the page - you can almost feel the tooth of the paper. It’s a quiet sort of drawing, but there's a lot of life in it. The slight smudging around the lines gives it a hazy, dreamlike quality, as if these shapes are emerging from his memory. I’m really drawn to the fish motif, how it’s repeated with slight variations. It reminds me a little of Klee’s more whimsical works, or maybe even some of the Surrealists' automatic drawings. It’s like Stolk is inviting us to see the world through his eyes, with a touch of wonder and a willingness to embrace imperfection. Art doesn't always have to shout; sometimes, it whispers.