Studieblad met olifanten en een huis after 1903

This "Studieblad met olifanten en een huis," or Study Sheet with Elephants and a House, was made by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof with pencil on paper. Isn’t it interesting, the way artists use animals to sort of stand in for us? I’m picturing Dijsselhof with a sketchbook in the zoo, trying to capture the inner life of these creatures, the slow, ponderous movement of the elephant, the bear’s more grounded solidity. He probably didn’t labor over these studies, but moved quickly, intuitively. Look how a few simple lines suggest the house at the bottom right; then there is a ghostly creature below the elephant and bear, what could it be? The animals seem more defined and complete in comparison. I think the house is about a feeling, not a place. You see that, too, right? We, as artists, are always in conversation with one another, aren’t we, across time and space. And that conversation, it goes on and on.