Sometimes matchstick tramp art can feel a bit kitschy, but this is really something else entirely. No burnt ends, no varnish over top, just the beautifully irregular linear patterns of the cut matchsticks laid down end to end, one after the other, interrupted only by the simple outlines of three stars. All having acquired a gorgeous warm dry wood patina that, together with the geometries, makes it feel almost like a painting, and it is actually Jasper Johns’ flag paintings that this keeps making me thinking of... though with a bit of Robert Indiana too! Really quite a special feeling thing I think, and I love how the two smaller stars feels as if standing upon the shoulders of the larger one.
8 5/8" x 5 11/16" and in very good condition, with the tiniest bot of loss to corners, no matter. It appears that a newer piece of cardboard was added to the back over an older, thicker board. 1920s-40s I would think.
You might also like
