Kalenderblad voor oktober 1899 1898

This is Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof's calendar for October 1899, a lithograph that immediately strikes us with its blend of utility and artistry. The calendar's structure is rigidly geometric, its grid-like layout starkly contrasting with the organic motifs of the surrounding border. Here, we see stylized ferns and spiraling tendrils rendered in muted greens and blacks, a clear nod to Art Nouveau's fascination with natural forms. This contrast creates a visual tension, destabilizing the conventional notion of a calendar as a purely functional object. The use of stylized botanical elements, rendered with precision, speaks to a broader cultural interest in nature and decoration at the turn of the century. Dijsselhof's calendar challenges our fixed expectations, transforming a mundane object into a site of aesthetic contemplation, where the boundaries between art and design blur.