Arm in arm staand paar 1874 - 1945

Curator: This intriguing piece before us, currently held at the Rijksmuseum, is titled "Arm in arm staand paar," or "Standing Couple, Arm in Arm," created by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet sometime between 1874 and 1945. It's rendered in ink on paper. Editor: Immediately, it feels... unfinished. A fleeting moment captured with a wonderful sort of nervousness. Almost like the artist was afraid to be seen looking. But there’s also an undeniable intimacy despite that. Curator: Absolutely. Cachet's use of line in this piece is particularly striking, placing him firmly in the modernist camp. There's an urgency to the lines, as though he needed to record the image quickly. We can see he’s exploring figuration through portraiture, while clearly more focused on gesture than realistic depiction. Editor: Gesture, yes! The lean of the figures toward each other, almost collapsing into one entity. And it's beautifully awkward, that very slight imbalance – a hint of real, messy human connection rather than a posed studio portrait. The looseness of the medium captures that. Curator: Ink allowed him to create bold, spontaneous strokes. However, given the time period in which the work was produced, one could also ask, in a critical way, about who has access to intimacy or the ability to show public displays of affection during wartime. Who is authorized for that embrace? Editor: You are spot on with the interpretation but thinking beyond social politics. What did Lion Cachet exactly mean to imply and present with his rapid choice of sketching these standing figures so close and yet facing opposite directions? Is the choice about an era, gender or both? Curator: It’s something we must certainly consider in interpreting the piece, the constraints that a conservative culture placed on representation. Still, at the same time, such unvarnished vulnerability makes it captivating for all. It lets us see what he has captured within ink and paper medium and why they stand arm-in-arm after all, facing back to back. Editor: Exactly! Now I wonder what this would feel like as a large, multi-story mural or painting! So compelling when given scale to explore modern love and human connection! Curator: It provides plenty to reflect upon, and a powerful perspective on how human expression might be an outcome of those modern challenges and achievements of the human kind.