Vier rijen stoelen en een figuurstudie c. 1905 - 1906

This is a sketchbook page by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, probably made with graphite on paper. It shows a process: figuring things out. The lines are tentative, searching. There's a row of chairs that are almost cartoonish in their simplicity, but they're also solid, like they could hold someone. Then there's that little figure, tucked away in the corner. It’s so interesting to me the relationship between that and the diagrams on the right page. It looks like a stage set or an installation plan for an event. I love how the artist lets us see the thinking behind the image. I mean, the calculations are right there! Cachet is letting us in on the labor, the planning, the sheer mechanics of bringing something into being. It makes me think of someone like Sol LeWitt, who also embraced the idea of art as a set of instructions, or a system. Art is an open question, not a closed one.