De dief bestolen 1894 - 1959

"De Dief Bestolen" - "The Thief Robbed" - what a title! This print by Monogrammist G.J. is a riot of simple colors, all neatly contained in their zones, like a coloring book page gone wild. You know, I've always been drawn to art that lays bare the bones of its making, and there's something delightfully upfront about this one. The palette is subdued, but there's a joyous quality in the composition, which reads like a storyboard of a slapstick routine, a sort of vaudeville joke on paper. I love how the artist uses these thin, precise lines to define form, each one deliberate, unpretentious. This reminds me of artists like Red Grooms, where the lines dance with a similar exuberance. Ultimately, what draws me to "De Dief Bestolen" is its openness - it invites us to play, to imagine, and to revel in the messy, unresolved space of art.