Cut Paper, Noah's Ark

The craft of paper cutting has been practiced widely and continuously in Switzerland since the eighteenth century. Traditionally, the paper cuts were religious in subject matter (“cloister art”) or depicted the Swiss landscape and the animals and mountain folk who occupied it. Several of today’s paper cutters in Switzerland are adapting traditional subjects in a more personal manner to create designs in cut paper that are innovative and varied. Among them, Ernst Opplinger is the most spectacular form the point of view of the refinement of cutting, the large size, and the sophistication of the design. As the Cooper-Hewitt collection of cut paper has no example by Swiss craftsmen in this medium, we are anxious to acquire this superb sheet.