Honfleur Le Vieux, "Leurs Maisons" 1912

Fernand Combes created "Honfleur Le Vieux, 'Leurs Maisons'," out of graphite on paper. It's all about lines, etched with a kind of loving precision, like someone mapping out a familiar place, bit by bit. You can almost feel the graphite scratching against the paper. Look at the facade of that central building, the way the light catches on the shingles, each one rendered with delicate strokes, and how those lines thicken in the shadows giving it a sculptural feel. Combes wasn’t just copying what he saw. Instead, he was tracing the textures of memory, layering line over line until the image emerged. The whole thing hums with the kind of energy you get when someone’s really present, really looking. It reminds me a little of Piranesi, that same obsessive rendering of space and structure. It's like Combes is saying, here's how I see the world, not fixed or perfect, but alive with possibility.