Tatar, who sells watermelons 1924

Boris Kustodiev made this drawing of a Tatar selling watermelons with ink on paper. Look at that horse! Kustodiev has captured the scene with such simple lines and cross-hatching. You can almost feel the weight of the melons in the cart, the hot sun on the Tatar's face. The beauty of a line drawing like this lies in its immediacy, the artist capturing a fleeting moment with just a few strokes. See how he uses those quick, scratchy lines to create texture and depth? The horse's blanket especially, has these bold vertical stripes. It's as if he is using each line to tell a story. For me, this drawing feels related to the work of Honoré Daumier, who also had that amazing ability to capture the essence of everyday life with such clarity and wit. It reminds me that art doesn't always need to be complicated or polished, sometimes the simplest marks can be the most powerful.