Hoofd van een man met een bril c. 1916

Reijer Stolk made this drawing of a man with glasses, probably on paper, and probably with graphite. Look at those marks! They're so alive, aren't they? You can really see the energy of Stolk's hand as he's trying to capture the essence of this guy's face. The shading is simple, just a bunch of lines, but it totally works. It’s very direct. The glasses obscure the gaze. What is he thinking? What is he looking at? It's like you get a sense of the sitter's seriousness, or maybe skepticism. You could say it is a very human depiction. It reminds me of some of those quick portrait sketches Picasso would dash off. Just a few lines, but bam, you get the whole character. It’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, and a kind of code for how we see and experience the world.