Ontwerp voor een diploma van de Vereniging ter Bevordering van de Belangen des Boekhandels 1914

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries designed this diploma for the 'Association for the Promotion of the Interests of the Book Trade’ with ink on paper, so this was probably a commissioned piece. I can just imagine the designer carefully plotting out the composition and meticulously applying each stroke of ink, in light and shade, to create this formal announcement. You know, I sympathize with artists who have to work to these kinds of constraints – where’s the room for expression? I wonder how much pleasure Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries took in making this, whether it was just another job, or whether he managed to find freedom in the process. The hand-written element of the lettering gives it a certain warmth, and the way the blue ink sits on the page, slightly raised and textured, makes you want to reach out and touch it. It is this trace of the hand that allows for feeling, intention, and meaning. And it’s interesting to see how artists and designers borrow from one another across time. This formal diploma reminds me of Cy Twombly’s handwritten texts in his paintings. I always think of art as a conversation between artists, building on what came before, and pushing things forward.