Tekstontwerp voor Gedenkboek Hilversum 1424-1924 1924

This is a delicate pencil sketch on graph paper by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries. It is a text design for a Commemorative book of Hilversum in the Netherlands, and the artist has carefully drafted ‘Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands’. It makes you wonder what his relationship with the grid was? Was he fighting against it, or using it as a kind of support? You can see the ghost of the grid underneath, providing a structure for the letters to cling to. Look how carefully he has marked out the space. He is thinking about the weight of the letters. I feel such tenderness for the act of drawing and I wonder what it was like for him to make this? It is so humble. You get the sense of a mind at work, and a hand trying to capture something of importance.