Noëlle Smit
To the Market
Noëlle Smit has illustrated dozens of stories by other people — and now she has written her own picture book. To the Market is a wordless picture story of the kind made by Charlotte Dematons and Thé Tjong-Khing.
A timeless adventure about a girl and her mother at the market, with lovely side stories and little subplots. In full-spread illustrations packed with colourful designs, hats are tried on and fish are stolen by cheeky dachshunds.
Smit plays an ingenious game with perspective and shows her unique take on the world. Her style is often compared to that of Fiep Westendorp — because of its liveliness, its use of space, its humour. This compliment is very nice but it makes no sense: with her balanced compositions and surprising angles, Smit’s visual language most closely resembles that of Smit herself.