Beeldhouwwerk van een vrouwentorso 1905 - 1906

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this sketch of a female torso in pencil. It’s an intimate rendering, and you can almost feel the artist’s breath on the paper as he works. I wonder what Cachet was thinking as he shaded the soft curve of the woman’s hip? Was he thinking about the history of the nude in art, or was he simply trying to capture the way the light fell across her skin? The beauty of drawing is how directly it translates thought into form. The pencil moves across the page, leaving a trail of graphite that becomes a line, a shadow, a suggestion of volume. This sketch makes me think about other artists who have drawn the human form, from Michelangelo to Alice Neel. Each artist brings their unique perspective and style to the subject, and in doing so, they reveal something about themselves as well as the person they are drawing. It’s like a conversation across time.