This matted and framed paper shopping bag (ca. 1935) was designed for the Dutch department store Metz & Co. by Bart van der Leck (1876-1958) who, along with fellow Netherlanders Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian, founded the influential De Stijl (The Style) art movement in 1917. In 1930, The Metz & Co. department store commissioned Van der Leck to design the interiors of their stores and to create a branding campaign which included two versions of this paper shopping bag, of which ours is the square model. Van der Leck was a painter, ceramicist, and architect in addition to an industrial and commercial designer. His work played a major role in the development of the Bauhaus and thus, the Modernist and International School design movements. It is extremely rare to find an example of his work in such remarkable condition, particularly in so ephemeral and utilitarian an object as a paper shopping bag. Condition: Excellent with minor creases; punch hole with string at top, as issued; tipped to mat, minor smudge on mat. Dimensions: Image, 9.25” x 9.25 , Frame, 18.25" x 18.25".
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