Twee ornamenten met figuren c. 1905 - 1910

Editor: This is “Twee ornamenten met figuren,” or “Two Ornaments with Figures,” a pencil drawing on paper by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, made sometime between 1905 and 1910. I'm struck by how fleeting and ephemeral they feel; like a half-remembered dream you're trying to sketch before it vanishes completely. What captures your attention in this piece? Curator: Fleeting is the perfect word! For me, it's the suggestion of form, the artist hinting at these figures, these potential ornaments, without ever fully committing. Look how the lines dance and weave; it's like Cachet is inviting us into his thought process, showing us the very genesis of an idea. Are they angels? Are they decorative panels for furniture? The beauty, I think, lies in that delicious ambiguity. Does it remind you of anything else? Editor: Now that you mention it, the swirling lines are reminiscent of Art Nouveau, but pared way down. It's like the bare bones of the style. Curator: Precisely! Cachet was working within the Art Nouveau movement, and this feels like a very personal deconstruction of it. He strips away the elaborate details and leaves us with just the essence of form and line. A meditation, perhaps, on what truly makes a design sing. Makes you wonder about what those ornaments eventually became… or didn't become. A project abandoned, or maybe a new avenue explored. Editor: It makes me want to rummage through his other sketchbooks! I appreciate how the incompleteness allows my imagination to fill in the blanks. Curator: And isn't that the joy of a sketch? It's an invitation to collaborate with the artist, to co-create the image. I see the quiet strength and artistic clarity that comes through here, leaving so much room to ask "what could it be?". Thank you for that observation! Editor: Thanks so much for sharing your perspective. I see the drawing in a completely different light now!