Man en vrouw aan tafel in een restaurant

Hans Borrebach made this pen and ink drawing of a couple in a restaurant sometime in the 20th century. The limited palette is interesting to me. It’s almost monochrome, but it’s not, the artist seems to have set themselves this challenge of doing so much with so little. Look at the way he’s captured the reflections on the surfaces, the sheen of the man's hair, the curve of the woman's shoulder. It’s all about the line here, isn’t it? A perfect curve there and a heavier mark here. I keep coming back to the woman’s dress and the way the artist has rendered its texture with just a few strokes. It's incredible how a few strokes of the pen can suggest the way the light hits the fabric, its folds and creases. It reminds me a little of the work of George Grosz, that same sense of capturing a moment with a few deft strokes. But while Grosz is all about the satire, Borrebach seems more interested in the elegance of the scene. Ultimately, it’s a moment frozen in time, a little vignette of a world that feels both familiar and distant.