Vest 1935 - 1942

Isabelle De Strange made this drawing of a vest at an unknown date using watercolor and graphite on paper. The controlled application of watercolor, with just a hint of graphite, makes you think of pattern making as a generative process. Look closely, and you can see how each little bean-shaped motif is made of separate marks, a kind of controlled chaos. You feel the artist deciding to place each mark, one at a time. The colors are muted, but the slight irregularities in tone bring the object to life. I’m thinking of Hilma af Klint, though a work like this is more restrained in palette, it shares her interest in the hidden meanings of objects. This rendering of a vest becomes something else - an image of the unseen energies that surround us.