Purse c. 1936

This drawing of a purse was made by Cornelius Christoffels, but we don't know exactly when. What strikes me is the labor and care in its making – it’s a painstaking rendering of a painstaking object. I’m reminded of pointillism, that painstaking process of applying tiny dots of color to create an image. Except here, it's a single, consistent mark across the whole picture, like the world's most diligent coloring-in. Look closely, and you'll see that each individual 'stitch' is actually a tiny cross. They’re all carefully aligned and layered up, which creates a real sense of texture, as though the image is raised off the page. I love how the artist seems to have embraced the limitations of their chosen technique, using it to create a kind of optical shimmer. This piece reminds me of the work of contemporary artist, Ghada Amer, who uses embroidery in her paintings to challenge traditional notions of femininity and craft. Like Amer’s work, this drawing invites us to think about the relationship between art, craft, and the labor involved in their making.