Needlepoint and Beadwork Square c. 1937

Erwin Schwabe made this needlepoint and beadwork square, and when I look at the detail, I feel the labor of the hand, the repetitive, almost meditative process of stitching tiny beads onto the canvas. It's like Schwabe is building the image dot by dot, pixel by pixel, predating digital imaging! The deep red background makes the pink flowers and the gray-green foliage pop, but also gives the whole thing a kind of moody intensity. I imagine Schwabe hunched over this piece, maybe in a dimly lit room, carefully selecting each bead, each stitch, building up these floral patterns. I wonder if Schwabe thought about this as a painterly gesture, making something so controlled, but also embracing the accidental and the imperfect. The history of abstract painting is full of artists borrowing from needlepoint and textile design. Like artists are always in conversation, cross-stitching across time.