Straatmuzikant met blaasinstrument 1900 - 1931

Jacob Bendien made this drawing of a street musician with an airbrush, and what is so striking is how he takes the instrument, this long thin trumpet, and lines it up exactly with the central vertical axis of the body. The whole thing feels like it's been built up with tiny little dots, a kind of stippling effect that gives the figure this gentle, blurry look. It’s so soft, but it creates a strange sense of depth, like the figure is emerging from a mist. The overall effect makes me think about the way light moves through fog. I love how the hands appear almost delicate against the body of the coat. The hands and instrument are so pale compared to the rest of the figure. If you look closely at the bell of the trumpet, you can see that Bendien left the highlight completely white, so the instrument appears as if it's reflecting all the light in the world. Bendien’s method brings to mind Seurat, in that it's built up from tiny marks to make something larger, but its mood reminds me of the melancholy of a Picasso.