Blossoming Tree (Bloesemboom)

Arie Zonneveld’s printmaking assistant was his wife, Annie, who was trained in needlework and weaving. When Zonneveld died from appendicitis at age 35, Annie continued printing from his blocks—signing Arie’s name—to support their three children. Because she had to make do with poor-quality paper, her prints of these blossoms would likely have lacked the lovely cottony auras seen on Arie’s tissue-thin sheet here. The Dutch inscription “kleurenhanddruk” translates to “color print pulled by hand.” During the winter of 1944, beset by the deprivations of World War II (1939–45), Annie reportedly burned most of Arie’s wooden printing blocks for heat.