Ex libris van Carel Lion Cachet 1932

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this bookplate, sometime around 1932. The image is built with definite black lines, hatched with a smaller brick-orange, which is a really limited but effective palette. It gives the impression of flames licking upwards, surrounding a sunburst-like monogram in the centre. It's so graphic, yet also incredibly decorative. I always feel with prints, you can really see the artist’s process, because it's so direct. The cutting, gouging, and printing techniques leave their own traces. There's an interesting tension in this work between the precision required for printmaking and the slightly unhinged feeling you get from the flames that border the image. The letters 'LC' are so rigid compared to the almost expressionistic lines flaring out from them. It reminds me a little of Emil Nolde, who was a master of woodblock printing, and imbued his images with a similar, almost spiritual intensity. It's a reminder that art is not about answers, but about the questions it raises.