Tussenzetsel van roomwitte machinale kant met patroon van aaneengeschakelde bloemen, op karton c. 1925

This is machine-made, off-white lace with a pattern of interconnected flowers on cardboard, made by Gustav Schnitzler. I imagine the artist, Schnitzler, watching this lace emerge from the machine, and the rhythmic to and fro motion of the machine stitching floral patterns. These patterns are repetitive, a bit like the marks I make in my paintings. But machine-made! Imagine the different kinds of attention we give depending on the means of production: hand versus machine. The creamy colour gives it warmth, but it's almost ghostly in its pallor. I wonder what Schnitzler was thinking as he chose the cardboard to mount the lace, did he think the tones worked well together? Did he consider other options? As painters we have these material concerns, and so did he, even as he worked with machine-made lace and cardboard! Artists are always making choices.