Fishmonger c. 1882

This drawing by Otto Scholderer depicts a fishmonger, his hand raised to his mouth as he calls out to potential customers. The open mouth is a potent symbol, an ancient gesture of communication and proclamation, echoing through time. Consider its resonance in classical oratory, where a speaker’s voice and projection were central to persuasion. This is seen in the way the Greeks would amplify their voices in the theater. Even in religious art, the open mouth is seen in depictions of prophets delivering divine messages, a motif that carries through different cultures and eras. In Scholderer’s portrayal, the fishmonger's call becomes a primal act, a bridge connecting him to an ancestral line of communicators. It speaks to the innate human need to be heard and to connect, tapping into the collective memory. It is a gesture that is as old as humanity, echoing through the ages in this drawing.