Konijnen 1896

Curator: Well, this is a rather intriguing sketch, wouldn't you agree? This drawing, "Konijnen," created in 1896 by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, is currently housed right here at the Rijksmuseum. It's ink on paper, and really speaks to some key features of the Art Nouveau movement. Editor: Intruiging is definitely one word for it! At first glance, it's playful but also... disjointed? The rabbit on the left almost feels trapped in an abstract contraption. It is a cage? Or is that an absurd bunny throne? Curator: Ah, I can see why you might read that visual tension into the forms. I think we can understand this work within a broader interest in simplified forms emerging at the time. There was a desire to move beyond strictly realistic representations. Cachet explores what it means to capture an essential element. Editor: True, but look how that single line can define such volume, and I wonder why that choice of only drawing the outlines; the rabbit's very existence is almost vaporous, ephemeral! And yet it *is*. There are two; the other like a punctuation, or some mysterious growth. Curator: Yes, notice how the seeming simplicity actually belies quite sophisticated compositional choices. There’s a visual harmony at play, a calculated imbalance perhaps, reflecting the Art Nouveau philosophy to integrate nature and design. This abstraction was very much embraced by design and illustration. Editor: I am intrigued by your words on the Art Nouveau design style and harmony and, with all those abstract forms I might have never recognized these shapes as rabbits at all; to me they're like echoes of rabbits! Now, I want a wall filled with art of this style. So simple, and deeply mysterious. Curator: And in understanding the work's place in the Art Nouveau movement and thinking about artistic intention at the time, the sketch gives us such interesting insight into the period's aesthetic. Editor: Well, I see rabbits. Abstract and free. It really pulls something raw from within. Let’s go find some coffee?