Sheet with an overall pattern of dots and squares 1800 - 1900

Curator: Here we have "Sheet with an overall pattern of dots and squares," created anonymously sometime between 1800 and 1900. The artwork, currently held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, showcases a repeated motif through drawing and printing, seemingly intended for textile application. Editor: It's immediately soothing, almost hypnotic. The repetitive nature creates a sense of calm, while the two dominant colours give it a visual pop, it is also balanced by their softer tones. Curator: I agree. These kinds of repeating geometric forms were very common across folk art meant for functional objects. Their aesthetic success hinged on their integration into objects used everyday. The history of museum collections of these kinds of artworks is itself something of a complex socio-political narrative of taste. Editor: Absolutely, but what do you read from the pattern itself? To me, the dots evoke seeds, and the squares, stylized blossoms, suggesting a fertility or prosperity symbol. The colours also are reminiscent of royalty and riches, and possibly denote spiritual wealth. Curator: A lot of surviving printed patterns from the period borrow heavily from contemporary elite trends. The use of what was considered then advanced technologies, in particular, various printing methods, brought pattern design to different audiences across Europe. Editor: The distribution makes it possible for visual concepts to enter cultural memory more broadly. I agree it could simply be a pleasant design, but those little seeds, those squares, they whispered suggestions to the subconscious of home, of harvest, or growth, so very potent! Curator: It’s a tension woven through a lot of visual artworks throughout modernity and before that. Are forms that are easy to repeat a leveling democratic force, a capitalist industrial process, or something unique? I wonder if it will ever be known who designed the work? Or will its anonymity remain and define the sheet into eternity? Editor: Regardless, those images and the emotions they trigger remain the language of our subconscious, continuing to impact how we perceive, what we desire, what brings comfort, connecting across generations. That much remains a great cultural asset.