Composition
Chris Hendrik Beekman
Dutch, 1887–1964
1916
A vertical pastel-and-pencil study of interlocking rectilinear shapes in a restrained palette, made to investigate abstract relationships of color, form, and spatial rhythm.
What strikes you is a tall, puzzle-like stack of clipped blocks—blues, ochres, blacks, whites and pale greens—whose crisp edges, clipped corners and chalky pastel texture create a vibrating, almost architectural rhythm across the paper while faint pencil lines hold the composition together.
Dating from 1916, the drawing exemplifies early modern experiments that abandoned representation for ordered geometric abstraction, translating Cubist flattening into a modular language that anticipates De Stijl and constructivist concerns with rhythm, structure, and architectural space.
Medium
Pastel and pencil on paper
Dimensions
29 5/8 x 13 5/8" (74.9 x 34.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Riklis Collection of McCrory Corporation
Accession
851.1983
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
