Six Landscape Studies

Leon Dabo's six ink sketches document the poplar-lined waterways and flat horizons of northern Europe, likely the Netherlands or Belgium. Each panel explores the same compositional problem—vertical tree forms against horizontal landscape—through subtle variations in perspective and atmospheric treatment. The sketches show the artist's working method: rapid linework captures distant fields, water reflections, and sky movement. Dabo's approach reflects late 19th-century plein-air practice, where artists used small studies to solve problems of light, recession, and natural forms before developing larger paintings. These studies reveal the graphic economy essential to landscape modernism—how much a few strategic marks convey vastness and mood.