Bandontwerp voor: Verslag der Dagteeken- en Kunstambachtschool voor Meisjes te Amsterdam over het jaar 1919 after 1919

Nicolaas van de Vecht made this design for the 1919 report of the Amsterdam School of Arts and Crafts for Girls. I imagine him poised over his drawing, lost in a world of pattern and light. The design is intricate, a tight framing device containing organic, stylized forms. Look at the left panel, an almost gothic sense of energy, three curling flames reach upwards. I think about him, searching for a balance, maybe trying and failing to get it right, wiping it back, pushing forward again. The black and white creates a powerful contrast, the white almost glowing from within the surface. Van de Vecht has this rhythm down! There's a relationship between the hand and the eye that has become totally intimate. Ultimately, this cover design is about the power of art schools. The cover itself is a beacon of creativity, one that has been passed from artist to artist, generation after generation. It’s a reminder that art is a conversation, an ongoing process of exchange and discovery.