page_title: Sandpainting
section_title: Sand carpets
hierarchical_section_title: Sandpainting / History / Sand carpets
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Fussboden-Sandmalerei in einer Küche, Fotografie etwa 1900-1920, Drenthe, Niederlande. English: Sandpainted kitchen floor, black and white photography, about 1900-1920, Drenthe, Netherlands. Nederlands: Een zandtapijt in een Drentse keuken, Foto tussen 1900 en 1920.
context_page_description: Sandpainting is the art of pouring coloured sands, and powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, or pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed, or unfixed sand painting. Unfixed sand paintings have a long established cultural history in numerous social groupings around the globe, and are often temporary, ritual paintings prepared for religious or healing ceremonies. It is also referred to as drypainting.
  Drypainting is practised by Native Americans in the Southwestern United States, by Tibetan and Buddhist monks, as well as Indigenous Australians, and also by Latin Americans on certain Christian holy days.
context_section_description: In the province of Drenthe in the Netherlands in the late 19th, early 20th centuries it was custom to use a stiff broom to sweep patterns in white sand to form simple decorations on the tiled floors of the houses, mostly for special occasions or celebrations. The next day it was swept up.
  This custom was also practised in Northern Belgium by the Dutch speaking communities while in
  Hekelgem, 1973 was the centenary year of the craft of "Old Zandtapijt". The hotels and cafes would employ artisans to strew ornate sand pictures in unfixed coloured sands on the tiled floors of their premises to encourage passing tourists to halt and enjoy local hospitality on their way towards Brussels. Roger de Boeck, born in 1930, was a well-respected exponent of this craft, who used glue to fix his sand pictures to a suitable base selling them to visitors to his atelier. In addition to biblical scenes, his finest works included a portrait of Queen Elizabeth 1953, and US president John Kennedy, in the early 60s. This craft continues, and a booklet to celebrate the centenary was published on 1 February 1973.
caption: Sandpainting on the tiled floor (on the wall are handpainted decorated tiles)
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