Manskop, naar links 1865 - 1930

This drawing, by Jac van Looij, is made with charcoal on paper. Look closely, and you’ll see that Looij has used not just any old paper, but a sheet of graph paper. The grid becomes a means of structuring the portrait. The artist has used broad, sweeping strokes of charcoal to create the dark shadows and contours of the sitter’s face, giving it a sculptural quality. Notice, too, the way he’s rendered the man’s eyeglasses, as an almost brutal imposition on his face. The choice of charcoal, a readily available and relatively inexpensive material, underscores the artist’s interest in capturing the essence of his subject through direct and unpretentious means. The presence of the graph paper, along with its stamp and registration number, gives us a peek into its origins. This material context is crucial. It suggests that Looij was less interested in the preciousness of traditional art materials, and more interested in the immediacy of the image. The drawing challenges us to see the beauty in the everyday, the extraordinary in the ordinary.