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The False Label of Old Chaps: the caricaturist Mr. Max (1893-1966)
This article analyses the drawings of the forgotten quick-sketch artist Willem Frederik Keppel Hesselink, perhaps still known to some as Mr. Max. Drawings by quick-sketch artists are rarely preserved; they are usually discarded after a short time, sometimes even by the artist themselves. Mr. Max drew thousands upon thousands of straight lines, curved lines, circles, and so on, until he reached his eureka moment: the perfect line. That was crucial because the audience needed to immediately recognise the person in the drawn portrait or the situation the artist intended to depict. It took several years before he became a regular member of theatrical troupes.