Boekhandelaar naast zijn boekenkraam op een kade c. 1900 - 1934

Pierre Comba made this small drawing of a bookseller with ink on paper. Look at how the thin lines create a sense of depth and texture, almost like the bookseller and his wares are emerging from a fog. I wonder what Comba was thinking as he scratched those lines onto the paper? Was he fascinated by the quiet dignity of this figure surrounded by the remnants of fin-de-siècle romance? See the way Comba uses hatching to define the form of the bookseller's coat, each stroke building up the weight and presence of the figure. The lines are a bit scratchy, a bit nervous – it reminds me of the drawings of Käthe Kollwitz, where the weight of the world seems etched into every mark. And what about the books themselves? The spines lined up like soldiers, each one a portal to another world. It’s like Comba is reminding us that art, in all its forms, is about making connections – between the artist and the subject, between the viewer and the work, and between ourselves and the stories we tell.