'STOK' in gestileerde letters 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this drawing, 'STOK' in gestileerde letters, with what looks like graphite on paper. I can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the page. The letters emerge from this ground of smudgy marks. 'STOK' is stacked vertically, each letter rendered with a kind of fluid confidence but also with a sense of searching. Look at that 'S' at the bottom, how it curls and loops with a life of its own! I love how the artist leaves traces of their process, like these pale ghost lines above the 'T'. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's blackboard paintings, where marks accumulate and dissolve. It’s cool how artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring each other across time. It shows how painting embraces ambiguity, letting us find our own meaning in it.