Sheet with striped and abstract pattern
19th century
Medium
Relief print (wood or metal)
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 7/16 × 5 1/2 in. (21.4 × 14 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
Accession Number
26.71.9(3a)
Art Historical Context
This intriguing 19th-century sheet, featuring a striped and abstract pattern, offers a glimpse into the everyday artistry of anonymous printmakers. Tucked away in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this modest piece (8 7/16 × 5 1/2 in.) was acquired through the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund in 1926, highlighting its value as a preserved artifact of graphic design. Crafted as a relief print—likely from wood or metal—the work showcases a technique where the design is carved in relief, allowing ink to transfer only from raised surfaces onto paper. This method was effici...
About the Artist
Anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...