Button Rug c. 1936

Editor: We're looking at "Button Rug" from around 1936, a watercolor drawing on paper by Jules Lefevere, depicting two textile designs. The designs have such different moods: the top feels formal and a bit austere, and the bottom has an almost folksy, playful energy. What strikes you when you look at this piece? Curator: It is indeed the juxtaposition of these forms which is most captivating. Lefevere presents two studies in contrast, unified only by the square format and bordered edge. In the upper register, note the severe geometry—a grid of alternating rosettes set against the flat, uniform ground. How does that geometry impact your perception of the texture? Editor: It makes it feel very controlled and deliberate. Not particularly tactile. The lower design, with its winding vine, is so much softer, though. Curator: Precisely. Lefevere understood how the manipulation of form directly impacts perceived texture and emotional response. Consider the implications of that understanding. Observe the careful construction of the designs using geometric organization. To what effect? Editor: Maybe the contrast makes you appreciate each design’s specific qualities more? By placing them together, you see how even simple shapes can create a completely different atmosphere. Curator: And it is in that dialogue—between geometry and freeform, austerity and whimsy—that the true value of Lefevere's design lies. Editor: I see what you mean! Thinking about the forms and composition this way, the designs communicate something much more intricate. Curator: Indeed. Consider now the button not merely as decoration, but as the atom of larger systems of meaning.