Gezicht van een vrouw 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel created this drawing, "Gezicht van een vrouw", using graphite on paper. The softness of graphite allows for subtle gradations of tone and a hazy, dreamlike quality. Consider the labor involved in creating such a delicate image. Graphite, a form of carbon, must be carefully mined and processed before it can become a tool for artistic expression. The artist's hand coaxes forth an image from this humble material through skill and patience. The paper, too, has its own history, from the trees that were pulped to the industrial processes that transformed them into a surface for drawing. Gestel has captured not just a likeness, but a sense of fleeting beauty, inviting us to reflect on the ways in which art transforms raw materials into objects of contemplation, and in which labor and skill imbue those objects with meaning.