Ontwerp voor een ex libris van A.D.J. Suyver 1884 - 1952

This is Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries's design for a bookplate for A.D.J. Suyver, made with pencil on paper. You can see the process of making so clearly in the gridlines and preliminary sketches. It feels like an invitation into the artist’s mind. I love how the solid black shapes pop against the pale ground of the graph paper. There’s something Egyptian in the silhouette of the cat, so bold and present, echoed in the stark outline of the mortar and pestle. The way de Vries uses these elements in such a graphic way reminds me of the early 20th-century interest in printmaking. It’s interesting to compare this piece to the graphic work of someone like Aubrey Beardsley, though de Vries is more earnest in his design. Both artists share an interest in making a potent image out of stark contrasts. Ultimately, it's in the nature of art to make visual connections across time.