Man op een jaagpad Possibly 1908

This is Alexander Shilling's 'Man op een jaagpad', a drawing of a man walking along a path, made with graphite on paper. It’s really just a few strokes, but so evocative, right? The quality of the line is what grabs me, it’s scratchy and searching, like the artist is feeling his way through the landscape. The marks build up to suggest the bulk of trees, the slant of the path, the lone figure walking away. I love the way Shilling uses the side of the graphite to create tone and texture, especially in the sky and foliage. There's a real sense of atmosphere, a kind of hazy, melancholic light. That figure disappearing into the distance, it’s almost like a metaphor for the act of drawing itself, the way we use marks to navigate and make sense of the world around us. It reminds me of some of Guston's later, simpler drawings. Both artists understand that sometimes, less is more. A sketch can be so powerful in its incompleteness.