Naakte man, knielend op één knie 1906 - 1945

This drawing of a kneeling nude, was made with pencil on paper by Reijer Stolk. What hits me first is the way the pencil lines feel so tentative, like a first thought caught on paper. It’s all about process, isn’t it? Look at the figure’s left arm, the way the lines sort of hover and tremble. You can almost see the artist trying to work out the form through the act of drawing itself. There’s a real vulnerability to the marks, a kind of searching. The subtle shading gives the figure weight, but it’s the lightness of touch that really grabs me. It makes me think about other artists who use the nude to explore process, like Rodin. But where Rodin is all about mass and volume, Stolk is more interested in the fleeting, the ephemeral. Art is so often about finding your own voice in a conversation that's been going on for centuries. It's never about having the last word, it's about adding your own little question mark to the mix.