Duinlandschap, mogelijk met de watertoren te Scheveningen 1884 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this sketch of a Dutch dune landscape, possibly with the Scheveningen water tower, using graphite on paper. I can imagine him quickly capturing the scene on a windy day, the marks scribbled with urgency as the clouds drift overhead. Look at the lower register: the land is described with diagonal lines and directional hatching. I like to think about how the artist might have approached the picture plane as a site for visual experimentation and discovery. Was he thinking about edges, form, and tone? How did the physical act of mark-making shape the composition? There is a long tradition of artists working with landscape, from the Barbizon school to Van Gogh, all capturing their own experiences of nature. Artists are always in conversation with each other. This drawing reminds us that our own act of looking is just one interpretation among many possible ways of seeing.