Kop van een man met een hoed en sigaar 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this drawing of a man's head with a hat and cigar, but when or how, we just don't know. It's a couple of light, gestural sketches done in pencil, maybe while sitting in a cafe. The lines are spare, finding the form more through suggestion than detailed description, typical of a study. Look at the hatching around the hat in the top sketch. It's all about the cross hatching, like he's trying to find the shape through a kind of coded scribble. I love how the artist captures the essence of the man with such minimal means, and how the stark contrast between the pencil marks and the paper creates a visual tension. It reminds me a little of Daumier's lithographs – that same interest in the everyday, captured with an economy of line. Ultimately, it's this openness that makes the sketch so appealing. It feels like an invitation to participate, to complete the image in our own minds.