Kippen 1876 - 1951

Here's a small sketchbook page filled with chickens by Theo Nieuwenhuis. You can see the artist quickly captured the chickens with light, tentative lines that convey the essence of each form, their plump bodies, and busy beaks. I imagine Nieuwenhuis, sitting somewhere outside, quickly sketching to capture these chickens. There's a warmth here in the immediacy of the artist’s line, and it’s exciting to see the process of thinking through drawing. The speed is such that you can imagine him thinking, feeling, then moving his hand. The smudges and erasures show his struggle to refine and simplify his marks. This reminds me of other artists such as Daumier who captured the movement of everyday life, but Nieuwenhuis’ study of chickens feels different. There's something universal about this study, like the act of drawing, a timeless conversation between artists across generations.