Studie 1874 - 1875

Editor: Here we have Willem Cornelis Rip’s "Studie," created between 1874 and 1875, rendered with pencil and what seems like watercolor on paper. Initially, it feels very subdued. The almost complete lack of information, it feels a little unsettling, almost incomplete. What am I missing? Curator: You're right, there is a subtle quality. Look closely – what *is* there? What *can* you discern lurking in the faint strokes? To me, it feels less unsettling, and more pregnant with possibility, as if Rip is inviting us to participate in the act of creation itself. Editor: Oh, I see what you mean! Vague suggestion rather than statement. There seems to be a portrait, sketched almost ethereally. Is that typical of Rip’s process, to leave so much to the imagination? Curator: That's a fantastic question! Rip’s earlier works certainly leaned towards more definitive lines. Here, however, in leaving things understated, almost like a half-remembered dream, it’s almost as if he is attempting to capture the fleeting essence of a subject rather than a rigid likeness. Do you see any influence of Impressionism peeking through, perhaps? Editor: Yes! Now that you mention it, it does have that feeling of capturing a momentary impression. Before you pointed it out, though, it was all suggestion and mystery! It makes you wonder what that portrait may have become. Thanks for opening my eyes! Curator: And thank you for asking the kind of questions that open mine! It's in these conversations that art truly comes alive. The fact that it remains only suggestion forces our minds to conjure what it wants.