The lines of Paris Born in Paris, France, in 1880, Robert Polack lived through a period where the edges of illustration began to soften into something more decorative. His hands worked with the delicate textures of paper and stencil, leaving behind traces of a specific French aesthetic. The work often appeared on small, intimate objects or within the quiet pages of books, far from the scale of large canvases. In 1925, his touch was seen on a fan held in the collection of The Fan Museum in Greenwich. This piece featured a double paper leaf, shaped like a balloon, with wooden sticks stained to…