China prentbriefkaart 'Meneer Droogstoppel tot de matrozen' c. 1900 - 1918

Alfaro Reijding made this postcard, titled 'China prentbriefkaart 'Meneer Droogstoppel tot de matrozen', using some kind of print medium. The limited palette, mostly yellows and creams, is so striking, and yet somehow, still feels very open. I keep coming back to the lines around the boats and the ships in the background. They wiggle and waver in a way that make the scene come alive. Are they moving, or are my eyes playing tricks on me? The slightly off-kilter quality and raw honesty of the marks, that build up to a cartoonish scene, are particularly engaging. This feels like process made visible. Reijding’s mark-making here reminds me of the way a painter like James Ensor used a similar type of social commentary in his work, but Reijding’s simpler lines makes it more immediate, as if he is sketching directly from life. Ultimately, this image presents a loose, experimental invitation to thinking about Dutch and Asian relations.