Zonder titel (schetsen van paard) 1925 - 1940

Leo Gestel made these horse sketches in pen and pencil on paper, though the date is unknown. It’s so interesting to see how an artist works things out, right? Like, how do I make this thing? How do I capture its essence? Gestel is feeling out the form of the horse. One is barely-there pencil marks, another bolder ink, a third just a dark splurge of head. The materiality here is everything. The stark contrast of the black ink against the pale paper gives a real graphic punch. The lines are fluid but also kind of awkward, like the horse is about to trip. And that little blob of a horse head, all thick, juicy ink, it’s like he’s testing the limits of abstraction, of what a horse can even be. It makes me think of Franz Marc, who painted animals in these wild, expressionist colors. Ultimately, Gestel reminds us that art is about experimentation, about pushing boundaries, and about seeing the world in new and unexpected ways.