Coverlet Detail c. 1936

Cornelius Christoffels made this drawing of a coverlet detail sometime in the early to mid twentieth century. I see these tiny marks, a kind of hesitant geometry in red and blue, like a code being worked out on the page. Imagine Christoffels hunched over this work, carefully rendering each intersection of the woven threads. The way the colors alternate, creating optical patterns, I wonder if he was thinking about Mondrian and the De Stijl movement? Or maybe he was just really into textiles. There’s something so methodical and patient about this piece. It reminds me that artists are always looking, borrowing, and transforming ideas across different disciplines. This piece celebrates the act of seeing, the joy of making, and the endless conversation between artists across time.