Sjabloon met ornament 1884 - 1952

This Sjabloon met ornament by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries is on paper, and what hits me first is how provisional it feels. Like a sketch that's not trying too hard. I can imagine de Vries in his studio, trying out an idea, maybe for a logo. He starts with a stencil, that crisp white shape, a kind of monogram, and then surrounds it with this kind of halo of splattered yellows and browns. It’s so simple, almost childlike, the way the colors are dabbed on. And then there are these little gridlines peeking through, like a ghost of the structure underneath. There's a casualness about it, an openness to chance. The blue scumble in the corner; it's like he's saying, "Well, let's see what happens if I put this here." I wonder if other artists, maybe like Miro, inspired him. It feels like an artist just playing around, feeling his way through the possibilities.