Portret van Hendrik Willem Mesdag 1911

Chris Lebeau made this portrait of Hendrik Willem Mesdag using pencil on paper. The beautiful thing about drawing is you can see the whole process. The gentle hatching that builds up the shadows on Mesdag's face, the way Lebeau coaxes the form out of the page with simple marks. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the paper. I'm really drawn to the beard. It's this soft cloud of lines, a textural contrast to the smooth planes of the face. Each stroke feels considered, contributing to the overall sense of depth and volume. Look closely, and you can see how the lines change direction and density to create the illusion of light. Lebeau's work has a real affinity with artists like Whistler, who also explored the delicate possibilities of tonal drawing and printmaking. It's like a quiet conversation happening across time, a reminder that art is always evolving, always building on what came before.