Gewelf en bloemenmotieven c. 1905

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this sketch of vaults and floral motifs sometime in his lifetime with a pencil. Look at the bare lines, the skeletal structure of what could be a building under construction, or maybe a dream of one? I think the artist was probably figuring things out, letting the pencil lead him this way and that. The marks are so light, you can see how easily he might have erased or shifted them. Imagine him searching for the right angle, the right curve, for just the right flower. It’s cool to see this artist at work, thinking through his hand. You know, artists are always looking at each other’s work, riffing off it, arguing with it. This piece is a reminder that everything is connected, even across time and space, so that one artist’s question can become another’s answer. I think this work reminds us that even unfinished ideas can hold so much beauty.