Buitengewone avonturen van A-Ji-Flè c. 1902

This illustrated print, "Extraordinary Adventures of A-Ji-Flè" by Henry Hennault, invites us into a world of playful storytelling through a sequence of images. Each frame reveals a new episode, rendered with the kind of economical lines and flat color that give it a real graphic punch. I’m struck by how each scene is built from simple gestures, rendered in a way that is so deliberate, like each tiny movement has been worked out in advance. The whole piece feels handmade, there's a connection to process, a sense of a real person behind the marks. Take, for example, the way the figure balances on an umbrella. It’s not just a physical feat; it’s a balancing act of form and composition, making it feel like it could topple at any second! Hennault reminds me of the work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi with their shared love of narrative and the inventive ways of using visual language to make stories come alive. Much like art, life is all about seeing things from different angles, mixing things up, and never quite knowing where you'll end up.