The ogre counting his money 1921

Margaret Evans Price made this illustration of an ogre counting his money using what looks like pen and ink and watercolor. I imagine her bent over the paper, carefully delineating those bags of coins, one by one. It makes me think about all the labor that goes into making an image, especially one intended for mass consumption. What was she thinking as she made this? Did she sympathize with the ogre? Did she understand the voyeuristic little girl peeking through the door? There’s something so satisfying in the way she rendered the tactile quality of the coins, so palpable you can almost feel their weight. The flatness of the picture plane emphasizes the way the narrative unfolds, and it makes me think about all the illustrators who have worked in this mode, from Sendak to Steig, all riffing on these archetypes, and speaking to each other across time.