Wall Paper Sample c. 1940

This is Betty Jacob’s Wall Paper Sample, made with watercolor on paper, and what strikes me most is the lightness of touch, a real sense of play. You can feel that she’s really enjoying the making process. There are two different samples here, studies of figures and flora, like a garden in full bloom. The colors are muted, almost translucent, and the paper is thin, aged, and fragile. In the floral arrangement, notice how Jacob uses a simple, repetitive pattern of small circles to create visual interest, like little dots of light. And then look over to the figures, a man and a woman, how the forms are loosely defined, the ink bleeding out into the paper, giving a feeling of movement and spontaneity. Jacob’s work reminds me a little of the Swedish painter Hilma af Klint, in that both artists embraced abstraction and explored the spiritual dimensions of artmaking, but Jacob’s work is more intimate, more personal, as if inviting us into her private world. Ultimately, art is all about communication, and Jacob speaks a language of beauty, simplicity, and joy.