Studie c. 1901

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof made this drawing, Studie, sometime between 1880 and 1924 with graphite. The most prominent thing is that rectangular shape. Is it a window? Or is it a door? Or is it something else? It feels like it is there to keep something else in place; a container for a thought. You know, like a page in a sketchbook? I like how Dijsselhof captured the essence of form with such minimal strokes, like writing. The drawing seems to be more about feeling than seeing. The graphite is a whisper, capturing the quiet observations of the artist’s eye. There’s this tentative quality in the lines, a search for the right form, a dance between intention and chance. Drawing is a conversation that we can join in on, continuing the dialogue between mark-maker and mark-reader.