De brief 1894 - 1959

This little comic strip, "De brief," was made without a known date by Monogrammist G.J. Looking at these small scenes, framed so neatly, I get a sense of storytelling unfolding – kind of like flipping through a book of painted pictures. The colors are muted, mostly earthy tones with pops of red and green. I can imagine the artist carefully applying each layer, deciding where to add detail and where to leave things a little rough. The artist is trying to capture a certain sense of narrative in each frame. They're playing with how a story emerges, bit by bit, with each scene adding to the bigger picture. I imagine Monogrammist G.J. flipping through popular magazines and comics, drawing inspiration from other storytellers. Ultimately, art is about communication across time and space, and this piece speaks to that idea – each image is an attempt to figure out how to translate feeling, story, and message through a simple, visual language.