Ontwerp voor een zilveren fruitschaal 1911

This ‘Ontwerp voor een zilveren fruitschaal’, or design for a silver fruit bowl, was made by Mathieu Lauweriks, presumably with pencil on paper. You can see the grid beneath the image, which must have been a starting point, a way of organizing space for this imagined object. The structure is laid out with a confident hand. Lauweriks is not trying to hide his process. You can see the erasures, the corrections, the working out of the design. I am drawn to the swirling vortex at the center of the bowl, it’s a captivating focal point. It feels like the energy that will be released when the bowl is filled with fruit is already present in the design. Lauweriks later architectural designs share a similar geometric precision and interest in mathematical proportion. Like the bowl design, these later works emphasize form and structure over embellishment. This reminds me of the work of Agnes Martin, whose drawings also use a grid-like structure to create meditative and contemplative spaces. Both artists invite us to slow down, to observe, and to appreciate the beauty of simple forms.