Figuurstudies, onder andere een man met een snor c. 1890

Curator: Here we have "Figuurstudies, onder andere een man met een snor," or "Figure Studies, Including a Man with a Moustache," a pencil drawing created around 1890 by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet. It's currently housed here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My initial response is that there is such lightness in this sketch. The barest indication of form through the pencil. You can almost feel the artist rapidly capturing fleeting moments. Curator: Indeed, there is a remarkable economy of line. Notice how Cachet employs swift, assured strokes to delineate the figures. Observe, too, how he uses line weight to suggest depth, particularly in the man with the flamboyant moustache, really establishing a visual hierarchy. Editor: It is precisely that rapid quality that appeals. You are granted entry into the sketchbook, that normally very private space, of the artist. Pencil, being a readily accessible material, often facilitated quick and intuitive creation of sketches like these, I wonder what paper it is? How would Cachet source paper at this time? Curator: These studies speak volumes about Impressionist practices. Note that Cachet uses drawing as an almost immediate vehicle for the registration of an impression, similar to, but divergent from, sketches made en plein air. Editor: I am curious how such rapid sketches reflected Cachet's immediate milieu? The clothing on the figures implies he captured contemporary Dutch society – I can imagine the artist sketching these figures on trams or at social gatherings. How the advent of readily available paper created a snapshot, if you pardon the pun, of social change and individual representation? Curator: Perhaps, though I also see this loose handling as pushing toward abstraction and the autonomy of the art object, irrespective of its social origins or its depicted subject. Editor: Yes, but surely it's worth considering how the widespread access to new drawing technologies helped break down traditional approaches, leading artists to create images of everyday scenes. Curator: An interesting consideration to be sure, a true paradigm shift indeed. Editor: And something really special to catch in such a fleeting snapshot in time.