Ineengedoken haan 1912

Jan Mankes made this, 'Ineengedoken haan', or 'Huddled Rooster' using paint on paper. It looks like he's building up the image in layers, like he's searching for the rooster within the marks. There's something really wonderful about the almost ghostly quality of the bird. It's like it's emerging from the paper, or maybe dissolving into it. Look closely, and you can see how Mankes used these dry, scratchy marks to create the texture of the feathers, a contrast to the almost smooth, blank expanse which makes up the body of the rooster. The drawing isn't trying to convince you of anything, and it's all the more powerful for it. Mankes was interested in simplifying his forms, reducing them to their essence, which makes me think of Agnes Martin who worked a little later than Mankes, but both of them share a kind of quiet, poetic vision. There's something vulnerable and intimate in both their work, which offers us the space to pause, breathe and reflect.