Comme En Quatre-Vingt Treize 1901

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen made this compelling drawing, with ink on paper. I see a lot of marks here, a lot of fast marks, and I imagine Steinlen moving the pen quickly and trying to get something down fast, before it disappears. He's working in black and white, so everything is about contrast, which maybe helps create the drama of the scene. I can imagine him, maybe in a cafe, trying to capture what's going on in the world around him. You have these shadowy figures on the left, kind of menacing, and then this ethereal figure on the right, holding the hand of a child. It's like two worlds colliding. The scratchiness reminds me of Goya, but also of a lot of comic art. Like he's trying to tell a story, but he's also just playing with the ink, letting it do its thing. It feels urgent, like he's saying, "Hey, look at this!" And that's what makes it so powerful, you know? Artists are always talking to each other, across time, across place, and each one picks up the conversation where the last one left off.