Notitie 1905 - 1906

Curator: This drawing, "Notitie," created around 1905-1906 by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, offers such a direct look into the artistic process. We see pencil and ink on paper. What strikes you most about it? Editor: It looks like a page from a sketchbook, with a simple geometric shape, what could be architectural, alongside some mathematical equations. It feels very raw, very much like an unedited thought. How do you interpret this work? Curator: I see this as evidence of labor, pure and simple. Cachet is literally working through ideas of form and measurement. Note how the supposed "high art" of drawing is intertwined with calculation, with the pragmatic concerns of production. It challenges the division between artistic inspiration and practical construction. How does the presence of mathematical notations impact your view of the sketch's purpose? Editor: It makes me think more about design and planning, perhaps even a craft-related design, something very hands-on. I initially thought of it as abstract, but now it feels very concrete. Curator: Exactly! The materiality of paper, pencil, and ink connects this "artwork" to a physical process, to a hand at work. Cachet isn't just dreaming up a form, but thinking through how it's realized, how much it will cost – notice those calculations, what do you make of those? Editor: They make me consider the economic conditions in which Cachet was operating, and how even art nouveau was subject to budgetary limitations. It adds a layer of complexity and connects the artwork to the real world. Curator: It reminds us that all art, even something seemingly simple like this, emerges from material conditions and practical labor. Do you find that this perspective shifts your understanding of art-making? Editor: Absolutely. I’ll never look at a sketch the same way again. It’s so much more than just a preliminary idea. Curator: And seeing art this way encourages us to value not just the final product, but the process, the materials, and the social context that made it possible.