Dorpsstraat c. 1909s

Alexander Shilling sketched this village street, ‘Dorpsstraat’, presumably en plein air in his notebook. Imagine Shilling, balancing his sketchbook, rapidly drawing the buildings with a soft pencil: a process of inquiry, a search for form and light. He’s using marks to feel his way through this motif. See the delicate, tentative strokes of the pencil? It’s as if Shilling is speaking to himself, trying to capture something fleeting and intangible. What was he thinking when he made this? The contrasting marks create a push and pull effect. His use of line reminds me of the work of artists like Guston, who also explored the potential of simple forms to convey complex emotions and ideas. Shilling's work is a testament to the power of art to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Artists are in an ongoing conversation across time, inspiring one another's creativity.