Dimensions: height 31.0 cm, width 24.5 cm
Copyright: Rijks Museum: Open Domain
This self-portrait was made with graphite on paper by Cor van Teeseling in 1942. It's a quiet and intimate drawing, almost a whisper of a self-image. The texture of the paper is visible beneath the delicate lines of the graphite. There's a real sense of the artist gently feeling his way around his own features, as though trying to understand himself through touch and sight. Look at the way the lines around the eyes are tentative, searching, while the line of the jaw is a little firmer. These marks are not just lines, they're acts of exploration. It reminds me a little of Agnes Martin's drawings, that same quiet intensity and focus on the essential. There's a real conversation happening here, across time and space, about what it means to see and be seen. It suggests a space that embraces ambiguity.
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