A rectangular watercolor and ink textile design filled with large shells against a background swimming with various tropical fishes. The white shells – a mix of types, including spiraling nautilus, spiny murex, and twisting conch – are finely outlined and detailed with black ink, in stippled and hatched lines. Very pale greyish-blue watercolor washes accent the shells, suggesting volume or depth. The seafoam green watercolor background is densely filled with pale blue watercolor fishes accented with black details, and peppered with tiny black fish. The fish are a mix of types and sizes including a spade-shaped angelfish, bulbous-eyed lionfish, and slim barracuda. Smaller fish swirl among the larger fish in the space around the shells, and even swim over them in some places. This contrasts with the tidy layout of the several vertical shells, pointing up and down. The overall pattern has a lively sense of undulating movement with a cool, restrained color palette.

The image is © The Original IP, LLC. See our image rights statement.

Object Timeline

1979	Work on this object began.
2018	We photographed this object.
2019	We acquired this object.
2021	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Drawing, The Reef, © June 12, 1979

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Suzie Zuzek (Agnes Helen Zuzek dePoo) and made for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc. and made for (as the client) Lilly Pulitzer, Inc.. It is dated © June 12, 1979 and we acquired it in 2019. Its medium is brush and blue, green, and greyish-blue watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on white paper. It is a part of the department.

This object was donated by The Original I.P. LLC. It is credited Gift of The Original I.P. LLC.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 38.1 × 34.3 cm (15 in. × 13 1/2 in.) Mat: 55.9 × 40.6 cm (22 × 16 in.)

It is inscribed

Inscribed in graphite, verso, center right: 15" ×13 1/2"; in black color pencil, lower right corner: 'The REEF' / 6/12/79 ©; in graphite, lower right corner: 2016.2.416; in pen and blue ink, lower right, vertically: 3/10 D [?]; in pen and red ink, lower right, vertically: 3/16/79 Art & Marketing Worksheet/form attached to verso with information and instructions inscribed/printed in dark green ink and inscribed in pen and red ink and graphite, including the name, date, size, number of screens, and screen order.

Cite this object as

Drawing, The Reef, © June 12, 1979; Designed by Suzie Zuzek (American, 1920–2011); Made for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc.; Client: Lilly Pulitzer, Inc.; brush and blue, green, and greyish-blue watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on white paper; H x W: 38.1 × 34.3 cm (15 in. × 13 1/2 in.) Mat: 55.9 × 40.6 cm (22 × 16 in.); Gift of The Original I.P. LLC; 2019-11-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Prints That Made the Fashion Brand.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/4wUro3/
Accession Number 2019-11-1
Object ID 2318796386