Scraps of Inspiration: Photographs and Graphics in a Designer's Album, 1870-1905

Books, magazines and photographs inspire designers in their work. In some cases artists record this process by collecting materials in folders, scrapbooks and albums. This has been done for centuries. An intact album from the nineteenth century is a rarity, however. We have the unique opportunity to look over the artist’s shoulder and see how photographs, prints and drawings have been used. Femke Speelberg shows how the designer drew inspiration from his album entitled Ornamentation Renaissance and leads us on a quest that takes us to Egypt, Vienna, Italy and Paris. The Manfred & Hanna Heiting Fund enables young researchers to study photography in the archives of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and publish their results in the series Rijksmuseum Studies in Photography.