Ex libris van Henriëtte Haitsma Mulier en Simon Moulijn 1876 - 1926

Simon Moulijn made this bookplate for Henriëtte Haitsma Mulier and Simon Moulijn, out of, well, who knows exactly! But it’s all in grey. The image, made up of these simple marks, is of a fountain. You can see the careful texture given to the two trees either side, and it reminds me that art is a process of trying things out. I mean, did he start with the fountain, or the trees? Why did he pick that nondescript little circle in the sky? I love the way that the marks make an image but also stay stubbornly as marks. The water of the fountain is made of simple lines, and yet, that's all that's needed to give you the sense of the fountain, of the water flowing. I see a similar approach in the work of someone like Jasper Johns, who also understood the power of simple marks to make up an image, but also to assert themselves as marks. Art's an ongoing conversation, and this piece is part of it.