Hansworst en de kaporaal c. 1902

Pellerin & Cie.’s comic strip of “Hansworst en de kaporaal” presents a series of sixteen moments, like frames from a silent movie. I see these two characters, perhaps one a military official, wandering through a kind of fairy tale landscape. The printing and colour application feel so deliberate, a true labour of love. I can imagine Pellerin and the team working painstakingly on these scenes, perhaps using stencils and cut outs. I wonder what they were thinking about as they decided on each color, each interaction between these two characters. There's a lightheartedness and humor here, a real joy in the making, like a shared joke between the artists and the viewer. The characters remind me of Commedia dell'arte - full of slapstick. And this makes me think about how visual artists, whether they’re comic strip designers, painters, or sculptors, riff off one another. We’re all having a conversation across time, sparking ideas and inspiring each other. Like Hansworst and the kaporaal, we find new ways of seeing and telling stories together.