Twee figuren met een hond 1891 - 1941

Here are two figures with a dog, quickly sketched by Leo Gestel with a pencil on paper. The beauty of a sketch like this lies in the immediacy, the sense of an idea being born right before our eyes. You can see the artist working out the forms, lines crisscrossing, searching for the right contour. Gestel's lines are nervous, energetic, building up the figures from a network of strokes. Look closely at the way he renders the dog – it's almost an afterthought, a few quick flicks of the pencil suggesting its furry form. There's a real economy of means here. Each line is doing a lot of work. It reminds me a little of the rapid-fire ink drawings of Cy Twombly, where the process of making is laid bare. Ultimately, Gestel's sketch is a testament to the power of simplicity and the beauty of imperfection.