Ontwerp met kaders en florale ornamenten 1884 - 1952

This is a design with frames and floral ornaments by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries. I’m thinking he probably made it with watercolor and pencil on paper. Look at this combination of soft yellow and gray! What a mood! I can imagine him working on this, trying out different ideas, maybe thinking about wallpaper, or textiles. It’s interesting to see this kind of decorative art. Sometimes we think of art as only paintings hanging in museums, but here, de Vries is concerned with how art can be part of everyday life, making our surroundings more beautiful. I can see him carefully tracing the lines, filling them in with delicate washes of color. Think about how this connects with other artists and designers. Like, William Morris was also super into making beautiful patterns for the home. And how all of this connects to our own practices. It’s like we're all just riffing on each other, across time, in a big conversation.