Chocolats Fins de Villars (Fribourg, Suisse)
Circular [printed] Paper ‘bonbons’ Box
circa 1950s
Intimate, picturesque and, in some sense, consoling. Pairing the aspect of water with that of a round shape may elude to the way in which ripples affect perception. Soothing in their fluidity, they can redefine and animate the features of an object; they designate themselves as ever-changing windows into a reality within a reality, making the observer see a three-dimensional space ‘through’ an ephemeral, two-dimensional plane. The vignette crowning this boîte illustrates a sage clay-roofed home partially sheltered by a thick clove of trees, which in turn look out upon a lake whose peaceable waters are lazily grazed by no more than an oar, a sluggish boat and perhaps the lurkings of a few sly fish and drafts. But equally blanketing this ambiance is a hint of nostalgia, nameless and unseen. Like the force of that which causes the birth of a ripple (something which, after making contact with the water’s surface, nearly always disappears from view), this unnamed nostalgia may also have served as the force from which this watercolour was born. What we, the audience, may perceive as familiar and comforting, let alone idyllic, varies among us slightly, like the way a disturbance in clear water may distill a handful of distortions reflecting one thing. Unlike the chocolats fins (which likely vanished instantly), it is no wonder that this nostalgic force chooses to remain, over sixty years since its printing, happily forlorn within its circular confines, never to set off beyond its gilt rim.
