Decoratief ontwerp 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this decorative design, a pencil drawing, without dating it. I can imagine the artist leaning over this gridded paper, wrestling with symmetry and form. There’s a playful, almost puzzle-like quality to it. It reminds me of doodling in the margins of a notebook, letting shapes emerge from the structure of the grid. I wonder what Cachet was thinking about as he worked? Was he trying to solve a design problem, or just letting his imagination wander? The lines have a tentative quality, as if he’s exploring different possibilities. You can see the ghost of previous marks, the evidence of his process. It makes me think about the countless sketches and studies that artists create, the hidden labor that underlies every finished work. This drawing is a testament to the power of process, the way that making can be a form of thinking.