Bed Hanging c. 1936

Editor: We're looking at Mary Berner's "Bed Hanging" from around 1936, rendered with watercolor and colored pencil on textile. It's incredibly intricate, all these floral motifs intertwining. What strikes me most is the density of the composition. How do you interpret this work from a formal perspective? Curator: Initially, one notes the subversion of traditional painterly space. Berner renders depth through layering and meticulous detail, yet the picture plane remains stubbornly flat. Notice how the chromatic values, though delicate, flatten form. What might appear at first as illusionistic is quickly revealed as surface. Editor: So, the tension lies in suggesting depth while emphasizing flatness? Curator: Precisely. And the linear elements, those meandering vines rendered in colored pencil, perform a similar function. They guide the eye, create a sense of movement, but never truly recede. Instead, they reinforce the artwork's materiality – it is, after all, watercolor and pencil on textile. How does that affect your understanding? Editor: It’s interesting; I was initially drawn to the representational aspect, but focusing on the interplay of materials and flatness really changes my perspective. Curator: Indeed. By privileging surface and materiality, Berner draws our attention to the act of representation itself, subtly deconstructing any easy assumption of pictorial space. This is a work about seeing, about the careful calibration of visual elements. Editor: I see! So it's not *just* a floral pattern, it is about the components. Thanks! I’ll think about the materiality differently moving forward.