Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 79 1901 - 1907

Willem Witsen made this intriguing ‘Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 79’ – which is a transfer of a chalk drawing on page 79 – presumably in a sketchbook. There's something about this process, it's like a ghost of an image. The color palette is muted, almost like a faded memory. The surface has this delicate, powdery texture from the chalk, and you can almost feel the hand of the artist pressing the image from one page to another. It’s less about the clarity of the image, but more about the process and its accidental beauty. Look at the upper right corner, that dark smudge really grounds the image. It reminds me a bit of Rauschenberg’s erased de Kooning drawing, where the act of removal becomes the art itself. Witsen offers us a glimpse into his creative process, where the accidental and the ephemeral take center stage. Isn't it interesting how artists have conversations across time through their work?