Ontwerp voor een behangsel met decoratief patroon 1884 - 1952

This decorative wallpaper design was made by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries. He used brown and green watercolor and ink, to create a symmetrical pattern. The design is a window into the industrialized production of domestic interiors. Wallpaper historically offered a relatively affordable way to introduce decorative arts into the home, and this design would have been created for mechanized printing. The pattern has an abstract form rendered in curvilinear lines, with a color scheme that evokes natural forms. This points to the tension between nature and industrialization that characterized the Arts and Crafts movement. Designers attempted to find ways of integrating handcraft values and aesthetics into mass production. In this case, the design is made by hand but clearly intended for machine production and widespread consumption. Looking closely at the materials, making, and social context allows us to appreciate the layers of meaning in this design, challenging distinctions between fine art and design.