Boekhandelaar met een stapel boeken op zijn arm c. 1900 - 1925

This drawing of a bookseller with books, was made by Monogrammist EK, but when? With what? Probably a pen, by the looks of it. I love the way it’s so immediate. The whole figure is rendered in quick strokes, like the artist just wanted to snatch him from the street, before he was gone. I imagine him there in a cafe, quickly sketching down the scene in front of him. How would it feel, to make marks on paper like that? So loose and free! It’s like a dance, or automatic writing, where the hand moves before the brain can catch up. That stack of books tucked under his arm looks heavy; I can see the cross-hatching where he’s built up the shadows in his coat to give it form. It’s like he's saying, "Here's a man, here are some books", and I find it both playful and deeply satisfying, knowing that artists are always playing around with form, teaching each other how to see and imagine.