Decoratief ontwerp 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this design with pen and brush in watercolour and graphite. It’s a corner piece that seems to float, unfinished, on the page. Look at how the graphite lines sketch out the architecture and, in contrast, how the watercolor is so lush and overgrown with foliage. Notice too, the expressive, almost cartoonish brushwork. The blues are so vibrant, like something Matisse would use, but the browns are muddy, like something from a forties comic book. That contrast, for me, is what makes this work so charming. It's like a tug-of-war between formal design and pure, unadulterated mark-making. It’s a testament to the fact that art is never really finished, it’s just abandoned at some point. The unfinished quality allows our imagination to fill in the gaps, making us active participants in its creation. It reminds me of Paul Klee who also embraced this idea of art as an ongoing, never-ending process.