Schrijvende Joanna Lion Cachet-Cordes c. 1935 - 1940

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this portrait drawing of Joanna Lion Cachet-Cordes with pen and ink on paper. It looks like the artist was trying to capture a likeness, you know, getting the face down, the hands, and the way her hair poofs up around her head. I imagine Cachet was trying to do it quickly, capturing her in a very fleeting moment. He’s really scratched at the paper to capture the way the light falls across her face. There is a certain energy in those scribbled lines that gives a real sense of her presence, like you might get a sense of her personality. The act of drawing here becomes a way of thinking, with each mark a gesture exploring not just what she looks like, but maybe how she feels too. You see artists doing this kind of stuff all the time; it's a visual conversation across time.