Hoofd van een oude vrouw 1917 - 1919

This is a drawing, "Head of an Old Woman" by Philip Zilcken. Look at how the graphite lines build the form. It must have emerged slowly as he looked and looked. The drawing feels like a tender act of observation, a kind of mapping of the landscape of the face. You know, I bet Zilcken really studied the old woman as a real person with feelings. I wonder if he spoke to her, or if this was an image that emerged from observation alone, with some kind of quiet pact between sitter and artist. The slightly blurred effect of the line makes me think that the head is about to take off. The circle for the hat is such a simple, yet effective, way of suggesting the volume of the head! It reminds me of the drawings of other artists who explore the form, like a dance on the page. Artists are always in conversation, you know, borrowing, stealing, and riffing off each other. It’s all a process.