Bandontwerp voor: Stijn Streuvels, Reinaert de Vos, 1910 before 1910

Here is a black ink drawing on paper, made in 1910 by an anonymous artist as a design for a book cover. I can imagine the artist carefully drawing each line, patiently filling in all the black shapes to create this graphic image. Was the artist thinking about the meaning of the story? A fox with a crown, surrounded by text and a bold graphic border, it feels like an emblem or a symbol. Maybe they felt the story was like a game of chess with life and death consequences, and the fox as a representation of someone cunning and clever. I think they did a great job. We see how artists throughout time have built upon one another's work to express themselves and open new perspectives. Art embraces uncertainty, so there’s no single way to interpret it.