Mademoiselle Spinelly chez elle. 1921

This is Henri Reidel's, Mademoiselle Spinelly chez elle, a piece with a very definite graphic style, you can see it in the flat application of colour and the bold outlines. The composition has this very deliberate, almost staged quality. The way the artist balances the muted tones of the statue against the vibrant green of Spinelly's dress. The lines are crisp, the shapes are well-defined, and you can almost feel the texture of the paper. I'm drawn to the way the artist used repetition in the design, like the stripes on the wall that create a rhythm in the background. They remind me of the way Agnes Martin built her paintings with subtle variations. It strikes me that Reidel is having a conversation with the graphic art of his time, it’s as if he’s saying, hey, let’s embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations.