Zelfportret en face met pet: B-1-1, 21 januari Possibly 1942

Cor van Teeseling made this pencil self-portrait, titled Zelfportret en face met pet: B-1-1, 21 januari, on paper, sometime in the early 1940s. It’s a beautiful, tender piece. There’s something so direct and unassuming about the mark-making here, a kind of quiet honesty. The hatch marks are very gentle, building up tone so softly, and the artist has really used the lightest touch to capture the light in his eyes. Look how the line wavers around the beret, like the pencil wants to describe, but also to feel the shape of the hat. The paper has aged to a warm cream, against which the pencil reads as an almost metallic grey. The face is rendered in such detail, it’s set against a very loosely worked collar and jacket, where the pencil marks are much more gestural. It makes me think of other artists who turned to self-portraiture to capture their likeness, like Van Gogh, or Schiele. In the end, though, it is a very unique and individual expression. This work feels like a precious and intimate moment, caught in time.