Hoofd c. 1916

Reijer Stolk made this drawing titled 'Hoofd' with pencil on paper. The artist is searching for the subject. Looking, squinting to see it and then building up a picture out of marks. How the soft graphite has been layered to build up tones. The face seems to emerge, softly modeled. It’s a person but it's also an idea of a person. I can see the hand moving, lightly, across the page, feeling for the right curve, the right angle. It’s a tender embrace of the face, the head, the person. The work is both representational and abstract, oscillating between recognizable features and pure form, like some of Giacometti's drawings. The artist is thinking, feeling, and seeing, all at once and inviting us to do the same. What a gift!