Day Bed c. 1936

This drawing of a Day Bed comes to us from the hand of B. Holst-Grubbe. I imagine the artist carefully rendered this design to imagine a beautiful, functional object into being. Look at the precision and attention to detail. You can see the artist puzzling over the structure, trying to resolve how the different elements of the design fit together. Holst-Grubbe would have been thinking about weight, pressure, and the distribution of space as they worked. There is something very intimate about the process of carefully drawing something like this. As an artist, I love seeing the bones of something – the underlying structure and logic that gives it form. It reminds me that even the most whimsical, seemingly effortless creations are built on a foundation of hard work and careful consideration. Seeing these lines makes me want to pick up a pencil and design something. It’s like a call and response through time.