Drie naakte vrouwen 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of three nudes, probably with charcoal, and maybe with a bit of smudging with his fingers. You know, when I look at this, I feel a sense of recognition because it looks like the artist is working things out, rubbing it back and forth, searching. Gestel is trying to figure out how to make a figure, and I'm thinking about my own process. How I keep trying and trying to find an expressive form. I am imagining he was thinking about Cézanne and the way that he handled a figure. See how he is using the weight of the marks to make the figures feel volumetric? Each mark, each stroke, tells a story of searching and finding. Making something like this means that, in a way, he’s in conversation with other artists across time who have also tried to resolve this age-old problem: how to draw a person. Gestel’s drawing is just one moment in that big, messy conversation, showing us that uncertainty is okay, and that there is beauty in not quite knowing.