Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 54 Possibly 1906 - 1909

Willem Witsen made this transfer of a chalk drawing, sometime between 1880 and 1923, likely in his studio. Looking at this quiet, grey smudge of a drawing, I imagine Witsen hunched over his work, the chalk dust swirling around him like a hazy memory. It’s like he’s trying to capture a fleeting moment, something seen out of the corner of his eye. The transfer gives it this ghostly, ephemeral quality, as if the image is barely there, about to disappear. I think of other artists, like Gerhard Richter, who also play with blurring and fading. There's something so powerful in that gesture of obscuring. It's like they're saying, "Here is something, but you can't quite grasp it." Maybe that's what Witsen was after too. It reminds us that art isn't about perfect representation, but about feeling, suggestion, and the beauty of imperfection.