Ornament met ruitvorm c. 1905

Editor: Here we have "Ornament met ruitvorm" by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, around 1905. It's a graphic print, a linocut, very striking in its geometric design and bold contrast. It has a sort of...stylized floral quality, but contained. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: It vibrates with encoded meaning. I'm immediately drawn to the central lozenge, the "ruitvorm." Diamonds are often seen as symbols of potential, of hidden wealth – but here, it's bisected with a cross. How might that reconcile with a period of such dramatic industrial change? Editor: That’s a really interesting way to put it. I hadn’t thought about the cross that way, especially against the larger geometric shapes. It does feel contradictory. Curator: Think of the period! Art Nouveau yearned for organic form amidst a burgeoning machine age. Notice the stylized blossoms, almost radiating. But they're constrained within this rigid geometry. De Mesquita, consciously or not, gives us visual access to a cultural tension between the natural and the artificial, a visual encapsulation of hope meeting structure. How does that resonate with you? Editor: I guess it explains why I was initially drawn to both its softness and sharp edges. I can almost feel that tension now, between wanting something organic, versus accepting that very controlled, almost manufactured, look. Curator: Indeed. And look closely; this "woodcut effect" carries the feeling of an earlier age. Perhaps the work asks us: are we building a new world on the backs of ancient memory, or burying the past under progress? Editor: This makes me look at it in a whole new light, as something much more than just a decoration, maybe as something a bit subversive. Curator: Visual symbols create their own languages; let the conversations continue, I say.