Portret van Emilia Spoor-van Wickevoirt Crommelin 1877 - 1928

Cornelis Spoor made this portrait of Emilia Spoor-van Wickevoirt Crommelin with graphite on paper. Isn't it lovely? Look closely and you’ll see that this isn’t just a straightforward representation; it’s like Spoor is feeling his way through the form, letting the graphite whisper and suggest rather than shout. The hatching is so delicate, especially around her face, where the lines seem to both define and dissolve her features. It's a dance between light and shadow, presence and absence. I am really drawn to the area around her hair, those soft, swirling strokes that capture the way light plays on the surface. It’s like Spoor is inviting us to not just see her, but sense her, feel the texture of her hair. You can almost feel the pressure of the pencil on the page, the artist’s hand moving with a gentle confidence. It reminds me of drawings by Vuillard, quiet studies of figures where the artist is really just playing with tone, line, and the pure pleasure of mark-making. It’s a testament to how much can be said with so little, an embrace of art’s inherent ambiguity.