Ontwerp voor een uitgeversvignet van J.M. Bredée 1905

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries made this design for a publisher's vignette with ink, and you can almost see the hand moving, can’t you? Look at the confidence and simplicity of the lines—a dark, rugged figure hiking up an incline. I wonder what de Vries was thinking about as he made this? Was he thinking of the effort it takes to climb, or of the lonely feeling of setting out on your own? There’s something about the contrast between the dark ink and the lighter ground that makes me think of the chiaroscuro used by the old masters. I’m thinking of other artists who worked with ink. Cy Twombly and his scribbled, chaotic ink drawings, or maybe Franz Kline’s huge, bold gestures. Artists are always having a conversation, aren’t they? A beautiful exchange of ideas across time. There is so much beauty in the simplicity of this vignette.