Koppen van kinderen 1908

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made these heads of children in pen and ink, maybe in a sketchbook. You can almost feel him flicking his wrist, trying to get down what was in front of him, or in his memory. The scratchy, soft black ink, and the way it varies in thickness, has something very direct about it, which is so appealing. The lines are very close together and there’s a lot of variation, creating shadow in certain areas and an almost sculptural feel. It’s like he's feeling around for the right shape. The eye of the child at the top left is just a couple of loops of ink, but they manage to convey the depth and the focus of the eye so well. There’s a playful economy of means at work in these heads that reminds me of Picasso's line drawings, or even some of Guston’s looser works on paper. It’s like a conversation between friends across time. Anyway, it’s nice to be reminded that art doesn’t always need to be finished, or perfect.