Sketches after Nature 1932

This pencil drawing of boats, “Sketches after Nature,” was made by Hans Bellmer, though we don’t know when. I can only imagine what it must have been like, standing there, breathing in the salty air, squinting your eyes, and trying to capture the rigging, ropes and masts, with a humble pencil on paper. There's so much detail! It's quite a feat. Look at the overlapping lines and the tonal range from light to dark; Bellmer is attempting to capture a specific moment and place. Bellmer, you know, is better known for his surrealist doll sculptures, so this realistic drawing is interesting because it shows us a different side to his practice. Perhaps it provided him a break from the more loaded subject matter he explored elsewhere. All artists are in conversation with one another, echoing and inspiring across time. You can see it here in the work of Bellmer, who shows us that art can also be a refuge and a place to simply be, with pencil and paper in hand.