Abstracte compositie 1920 - 1921

Erich Wichmann made this abstract composition with what looks like charcoal on paper, back in the 1920s. It’s pretty small, but inside that rectangle, you can see this dark space where lines go every which way, colliding, merging, and building up this incredible density. I just love to imagine the artist at work, caught up in the act of mark-making, probably not sure where it was going. You can see the energy of his hand, how he applied the material with different pressures. I’m thinking about how artists, like Wichmann, keep company with one another through time. They respond to each other's work, building on ideas and pushing the boundaries of their medium. For me, a piece like this is a testament to the power of art to express the inexpressible. It is a conversation, really.