Studie c. 1886 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this study, a drawing, with charcoal, probably in preparation for a painting. The marks seem dashed off – like quick notes or gestures. For me, artmaking is a process; you don’t always know where you’re going when you start, and these marks give the impression of finding the image within the act of drawing itself. I love the way the charcoal sits on the paper, sort of scratchy and uneven, not trying to hide its own materiality. Look at the density of the mark-making around the eye; you can almost feel the pressure of the artist's hand as he built up the form with these short, intense lines. It reminds me a little of Daumier, another artist who used humble materials to capture something essential about human experience. Of course, it is ambiguous, not quite complete, and it is in that space, between the marks, that the drawing comes alive.