Chest c. 1940

This detailed drawing for a chest was made by B. Holst-Grubbe. It looks like a design for a carved wooden chest, with all these elegant flourishes and precise measurements, a blueprint of sorts. What strikes me is the way the artist meticulously plans out the ornamentation, almost like drawing a dense, intricate garden. Look at the front view: see the careful placement of each element, the way the foliage wraps around those initials? It’s not just decoration; it's like the drawing *becomes* the carving. I imagine Holst-Grubbe really thinking about each curve and line, and how it'll translate into three dimensions. That level of detail reminds me of William Morris, someone who also blurred the lines between art and craft. And like Morris, there's a real sense of care and attention here, a feeling that making something beautiful is a way of making the world a little bit better. It's a conversation across time about how we live with art.