Staande man met hoed en daarachter een gezelschap zittende mannen c. 1936 - 1940

Henk Henriët made this pencil drawing of a standing man and a group of seated figures, we don't know exactly when. The whole scene feels like a snapshot of the artist's process, lines laid down with immediacy, capturing the essence of form and expression. Henriët’s marks are quick, searching, almost like he’s thinking aloud on paper. I think of process a lot, maybe because my own practice is all about it. It's not necessarily about the end result, but what the act of making reveals. Look at the textures, the way the pencil scratches and dances across the surface. You can almost feel the pressure of Henriët’s hand, the way he builds up tone and volume with these simple marks. There’s a vulnerability to this kind of drawing, a rawness that I find really appealing. The guy with the hat, for instance – there's a lot of personality coming through. Like with Van Gogh, there’s an energy here that transcends the subject matter. It is less about what is depicted, and more about how it is depicted.