De Bossche carnaval afgeschaft before 1917

Willy Sluiter made this image, *De Bossche carnaval afgeschaft,* as a print, and the soft colours suggest a process of layering and overprinting to achieve the final image. It feels very immediate, the hand of the artist is always present. I find the contrast between the cartoonish character, who seems pretty scary, and the delicate way Sluiter renders the image so interesting. Look at the way the colour sits within the dark outlines of the drawing, not quite filling them – like a child’s colouring book. The surface is very flat, there’s no effort to create an illusion of depth or space. That flatness is a part of its power, for me. It reminds me of work by someone like Philip Guston, who was also very interested in satire and not afraid to be a little ugly. And that snake curled around the walking stick! Amazing. Art is always talking to art.