Pad met een figuur op een kar 1923

Alexander Shilling made this drawing of a figure in a cart, probably in a sketchbook, sometime around the turn of the century. It's all about mark making, and the speed and freedom of a quick sketch. There's a real tension here between detail and pure suggestion. The figure in the cart is just a few scribbles, but you know exactly what it is. The trees on either side of the path are evoked with these quick, almost nervous lines. Shilling has this amazing way of capturing light and shadow with just a few strokes of his pencil, and the overall effect is both immediate and atmospheric. There's a looseness to it that reminds me a bit of late Goya – that same sense of capturing a fleeting moment. And like Goya, Shilling seems to be less interested in realism than in capturing the feeling of a particular scene. It feels like art is an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time. This piece embraces ambiguity, inviting multiple interpretations rather than any fixed meaning.