Design for dčor of restaurant, 56 East 56th St, New York, NY.] [Drawing of suggested dčor for restaurant with color elevation and murals 1910

This drawing for a restaurant design on 56th street was made by Winold Reiss, and it looks like he used pencils and some kind of paint, maybe gouache. It's fascinating to see the artist thinking through how the space would feel with these bold colors and patterns. It's all about the process of making a space. I'm really drawn to the checkerboard pattern – how the red and white squares play against each other, and those little circles inside. It’s so graphic! But the way the colors are laid down, it’s not super precise, there's a handmade quality to it. This makes me think of Sonia Delaunay. She used similar colours and geometric shapes, but in a fine art context. Reiss may be more commercial, but that doesn’t make it less interesting to think about the connections and how the same ideas keep popping up in different contexts.