Kalenderblad voor september 1912 met konijnen en meerkoeten 1911

This calendar page for September 1912, made by Theo van Hoytema, is pure process. The rabbits, the ducks, the reeds, they all seem to emerge from a tangle of lines, cross-hatching, and scribbles. It’s like he’s letting the image grow organically, bit by bit. Look at the way he renders the rabbits; a flurry of marks that suggests movement and fur, but never quite settles into a perfect representation. It’s this ambiguity, this feeling of something caught in the act of becoming, that makes the piece so alive. The restrained palette adds to the sense of quiet observation, of a world seen through a soft, autumnal lens. Hoytema reminds me of someone like Odilon Redon, in the way he embraces the suggestive power of the mark. Both artists seem to understand that sometimes, the most evocative images are the ones that leave something to the imagination, that allow us to participate in the act of creation.