Kerst- en nieuwjaarswens van Reijer Stolk 1906 - 1945

This Christmas and New Year's greeting card was made by Reijer Stolk, we don't know exactly when, but it was likely printed. Look at the detail in the design, which presents a bird's eye view of a town. I love the way it has a naive quality, but the lines are so exact, almost architectural. It is really just black and white, or more accurately the contrast between the dense black ink of the design and the creamy white of the card. The whole image feels like a map of a dream. The lines create a pattern that pulls you in and out of the image simultaneously, a graphic push-pull. Look at the way the repeated lines suggest a whole mass of rooftops, and each one is subtly different, slightly wonky. There's something very Klee-like in the way that it seems to capture an entire world in such a small space. You can't help but feel a connection to a maker who embraces simplicity to convey complexity.