Frontispiece for Balzac, "La Bourse" 1941

Imre Reiner made this frontispiece for Balzac’s "La Bourse" using swift, brown ink strokes that dance across the page. Each panel offers a vignette, a fleeting glimpse into a world of bourgeois interiors. Imagine Reiner, hunched over his paper, the nib of his pen scratching as he captures these scenes. There’s a certain intimacy in his lines, a shorthand for evoking emotion and atmosphere. The women, with their elongated necks and knowing gazes, seem plucked from a dream. In another panel, a fan and a vase stand sentinel, guarding secrets whispered in hushed tones. It reminds me of early modernists like Kirchner, who also used printmaking for illustrations. Yet Reiner brings his own sensibility—his quick hatching and cross-hatching. He is sketching out Balzac’s world, one with intense, dramatic lines. In this way, Reiner shows us that making pictures is really an exchange across time, with artists speaking to one another through the marks they make.