Ornamentontwerpen c. 1901

This is Ornamentontwerpen, an undated pencil drawing by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof currently in the Rijksmuseum. It’s a study, a sketch of ideas, all those different considerations are laid bare for us to see in the artist's hand. The graphite shimmers on the page. The pressure of the artist's hand varies, so the lines move forward and back in the pictorial space. There are circles, curves, fragments of shapes within rectangles; the artist seems to be working out how these relate to each other. A set of open ended questions. You get the impression of Dijsselhof as an artist unafraid to work through ideas; following thoughts as they emerge, even if it means leaving things unresolved. Look at the composition as a whole, at the top of the page to the left, what looks like a pair of open brackets, connected to a rudimentary form. What could this be? The point isn't to know, but to feel the pleasure of creative exploration. These shapes could be related to the work of Jan Toorop, another Dutch artist who embraced the ambiguity of symbolism. What do you think?