Meisje in een vensterbank 1909 - 1948

This pen and ink drawing on paper, by Freddie Langeler, shows two children on their way to school, and a third, younger child waving from a window. It feels like a scene from a storybook, or perhaps a memory. I can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the paper. What a lovely way to compose the image, with the figures in the foreground leading our eye to the child in the window. You can see how the light falls across the curtains, and how the artist used lines to create volume in the figures’ clothing. There is so much detail here. I imagine Langeler standing at an easel, carefully inking each line, building up the image bit by bit. There is something deeply satisfying about the precision and care that went into this piece. It reminds me of the drawings of artists like Aubrey Beardsley. It is like a conversation across time.