Chintz c. 1938

Henry Meyers's 'Chintz' is an undated watercolor, gouache, and graphite design on paper, and it’s got that wonderful sense of play you find in process-based art. The surface is alive with delicate floral patterns, each rendered with soft, translucent washes of pink, green, and pale yellow. Look at the way Meyers lets the colors bleed into one another; it’s like watching watercolors unfurl on wet paper. This technique gives the design a dreamy, ethereal quality, almost as if it's a memory of a garden rather than a precise depiction. The texture is smooth, but the layering of colors creates depth and visual interest. There's a particularly juicy bit of pink on one of the flowers that seems to burst from the surface, like a tiny explosion of joy, echoing the work of pattern designers like William Morris. Ultimately, this piece celebrates the fluid, ever-changing nature of art.