Vignet 1884 - 1952

Editor: Here we have "Vignet," a graphic drawing in ink on paper by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries, created sometime between 1884 and 1952. It reminds me of a little architectural element, something ornamental perhaps, like a keystone detail above a doorway, but stripped of any real context. What catches your eye in this piece? Curator: It does, doesn't it? The delightful puzzle of it. This isolated decorative form floats like a thought bubble. I can see in it the echo of Art Nouveau's fondness for organic, flowing lines, but contained and simplified. It almost feels like a glyph from some forgotten alphabet, doesn't it? It evokes a feeling, for me at least, like finding a fragment of an ancient story. I wonder what the artist was trying to express, or if this was simply an exercise in form? Editor: A forgotten alphabet - I like that! I hadn't considered that it may be more of a study than something intended to be a completed, independent artwork. Curator: Or maybe it was both! The most captivating sketches often are, revealing the artist’s hand and mind in playful concert. It might have adorned something bigger or lived a quiet life as one of many ornaments in a larger series of designs. Look closely, and one could almost imagine it as the seed for some incredible architectural structure that's now lost. What I enjoy is, it really makes me daydream about the history it *could* have had! Editor: That's beautiful, looking at it as something incomplete, but full of promise, the beginning of a whole story. I guess I was too caught up in thinking of it as just one little thing. Curator: Exactly! Its strength lies in that possibility. Art is rarely *just* one little thing!