Sheet with overall pattern of squares and crosses 1800 - 1900

Curator: I'm drawn to the overall softness of this geometric design. It feels less rigid than many similar patterned works. Editor: Indeed. The piece we're looking at is called "Sheet with overall pattern of squares and crosses." Attributed to an anonymous maker sometime between 1800 and 1900, it's a collage that incorporates drawing and print. Curator: So, a real hybrid piece. Knowing it's a collage complicates things in an interesting way. The materials become incredibly important, begging the question of where they came from and what kind of labor went into creating them initially. Editor: That layering of process is quite key here. These repeated shapes evoke both a sense of handcrafted care, but also raise interesting issues when thinking about patterns of textile production, their circulation, and who may have encountered this aesthetic then and now. Curator: Absolutely. And that texture – does the fabric base impact how the print is applied, creating that appealing visual variance? What are the class connotations of the cloth or paper? Is it high-end or something readily available? Was this meant to be a final work of art or merely an exploratory sample of what may then go into manufacturing, whether industrial or hand made? Editor: It's compelling how it refuses easy categorization, existing between fine art and the applied arts. I wonder how the intersection of the squares and crosses may signal or be embedded within specific cultural knowledge of that period. Do you think this invokes spiritual symbols of any sort or lean into pure abstraction? Curator: I lean towards function, suggesting the pattern emerges as the key player. It’s both visually engaging in and of itself, but invites consideration as something with purpose to be repeated and manufactured, not uniquely held as simply a piece of autonomous art. Editor: And that tension between uniqueness and reproduction I think reveals much about the values that shape our engagement with art in modern, rapidly changing times. Thanks for making this feel like more than a visual exercise! Curator: My pleasure, and I think this reminds us to interrogate how deeply labor is always intertwined within seemingly "simple" patterned outputs such as this one.