Ontwerp voor de ex libris van Carel Lion Cachet 1874 - 1945

Curator: Here we have "Ontwerp voor de ex libris van Carel Lion Cachet," an ink drawing by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, likely created sometime between 1874 and 1945. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Immediately, it whispers "secrecy" to me! It feels like peering into a hidden, ornate portal… all this monochrome, it almost feels mystical. Curator: Considering Cachet's engagement with Art Nouveau, particularly his decorative designs, do you see a potential dialogue with the socio-political anxieties present at the turn of the century, with an emphasis on escapism? Editor: Anxiety? Hmm… more like hushed confidence, if you ask me. Each curl and swirl, even those sweet little… are those stylized squirrels? … feels deliberately placed. Not frantic, but carefully curated, know what I mean? Almost meditative! Curator: I'd like to press you a bit further. Art Nouveau often provided a space for queer aesthetics and challenged heteronormative visual codes. Could this ex libris design function beyond mere decoration and speak to gender fluidity through the period’s distinct ornamental language? Editor: Maybe it *could*, but for me, it doesn't scream revolutionary gender politics! Its more restrained. I see a dedication to craft, to a refined sense of beauty... it speaks to a personal intellectual world more than a public, activist stance. Doesn’t mean it’s *not* there, just that *I* don't initially connect on that level. Curator: It is a starting point, of course. The grid beneath hints at mass production and standardization creeping into a hand-drawn realm. The question lingers, what happens to these visual codes as modernity takes hold? Editor: Wow. Ok, seeing the under-drawing does bring it crashing into a less idealized place… puts a practical lens on things! I’m going to take away something a little different this time, a little more… ground to my own fantasies. Curator: The tension is always fruitful. Thank you.