Decoratief kader met de spreuk 'alle schijn is geen zijn' 1884 - 1952

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries made this decorative frame with the saying ‘alle schijn is geen zijn’ – all appearance is not being – using pencil, pen and brush in watercolour. You can almost imagine De Vries bending over his work, carefully outlining each letter with a steady hand, making sure it was readable and clear. The grid showing through really gives it a sense of precision. Making a piece like this must have been an exercise in patience. I wonder what De Vries was thinking about as he drew each geometric form around the border? The way De Vries has used the contrast of colors creates depth and almost makes the image shimmer. It reminds me of the visual and conceptual wordplay of artists like Jasper Johns. Artists are always building on the ideas of those who came before, remixing and reinterpreting them to create something new. The piece invites us to question the relationship between appearance and reality. Just because something looks a certain way, doesn’t mean that’s the whole story.