Band met een floraal motief en rolwerk c. 1901

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof made this sketch of a floral motif and scrollwork with graphite on paper. What strikes me most about this piece is the economy of line, a kind of visual shorthand that suggests form without fully defining it. It’s all about the process of discovery, feeling his way through the design. Dijsselhof uses a simple graphite stick to build up this image, and you can see the texture of the paper coming through. The marks are tentative yet confident, as if he’s thinking aloud on the page. Look at the way he renders the scrolls, how each curve varies in thickness and intensity. He is playing with a balance between control and spontaneity, a dance between intention and accident. This piece reminds me of some of the early sketches by Gustav Klimt, where he's exploring similar motifs with a comparable sense of freedom and experimentation. Art isn't about nailing down a single meaning; it's about embracing the ambiguity and letting the conversation unfold.