Ornamentaal vignet 1884 - 1957

This is a woodcut by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries. I love seeing the process laid bare like this. You can see where the artist has carefully and methodically carved away the wood, leaving behind this intricate design. I bet de Vries felt a real sense of satisfaction, digging into the material like that. There's something deeply satisfying about the physicality of it. I get a similar feeling when I work with paint, pushing it around, seeing how it reacts. This reminds me of some of the early woodblock prints, where the texture of the wood is part of the image. You can see the pencil lines underneath, the architecture that holds the composition together. I see a portal, a place for the eye to linger. It's that conversation across time, artists building on each other's work. It’s a beautiful reminder that art is always evolving.