De brief 1894 - 1959

This page of comic strips called “De Brief” was made by an artist signing as Monogrammist G.J., but we don’t know exactly when. What strikes me about this is the way the colors are laid down, kinda flat and graphic, like a memory of watercolors, or maybe it’s printed and hand colored, or maybe it’s just the limitations of cheap printing. I love the way the artist is willing to leave areas undefined, letting the colors bleed into each other, like in the scene with the horse. You can see the texture of the paper coming through. The artist sets out each panel in these slightly wonky rectangles, and they each contain a little narrative vignette. All the figures have a kind of charming stiffness, and the limited palette gives the whole thing a dreamlike quality. It reminds me a bit of early Tintin comics, maybe the way Hergé was influenced by poster design of his era, that sense of clarity and bold line. It’s a great reminder that art is always a conversation, riffing on what came before.