Blue Band

Piet Zwart

ca. 1930 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

A modernist whose projects integrated photography, architecture, and graphic design, Piet Zwart was a pioneer of the Dutch avant-garde. He assiduously collected commercial art from around the world and—together with peers in the Ring of New Advertising Designers—adapted innovative aesthetics to corporate ends. In this, the most experimental of his still lifes for a margarine brand, he takes inspiration from recent industrial work, including the 1927 NKF cable catalogue. With trick lighting and plate glass, he seems to suspend this margarine midair, above a branded crate. Scrapping stereotypical associations with the product—from the farmyard to the family table—he instead summons its site of manufacture. Though it barely registers as food, this product presents the eye with a confounding feast.

Artist

Piet Zwart

Date

ca. 1930

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Warner Communications Inc. Purchase Fund, 1979