Staande vrouw 1886 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this pencil drawing called 'Standing Woman.' The drawing has a real sense of searching in it. You can see the artist trying to find the right line, the right form, adjusting, correcting. It makes me think about the struggle of trying to capture a likeness, the challenge of representing the human form. I wonder what Breitner was thinking when he made this drawing? Was he trying to capture a fleeting moment, a particular expression, or was he simply exploring the possibilities of line and form? The woman's pose is elegant, but the drawing has a kind of rawness to it, a sense of immediacy. The soft shading, the delicate lines, the way the figure emerges from the paper. There's something very intimate and vulnerable about it. This piece reminds me of other artists who have used drawing as a way to explore the human condition, from Kathe Kollwitz to Alice Neel. All of us are searching for the right line, the right form, to express what it means to be human.