Ontwerp voor een ornamenteel kader 1884 - 1952

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries made this design for an ornamental frame with pencil on paper. It is pretty cool, isn’t it? I really like the hand-drawn quality with all of its little imperfections. I imagine De Vries thinking, “How can I fill this frame in an interesting way?” I see De Vries making marks, thinking about the movement from one area to another, considering how the curves of the vine-like shapes balance with the little circular berries. There’s something so intimate about the way the lines vary in thickness. This reminds me of other artists who’ve played with symmetry and asymmetry, control and chaos – it’s a dance between intention and chance, a real conversation that painters and designers have been having forever. It makes me want to run to my studio and start working on a new painting.