These decorative designs were made by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet with pencil on paper. Look at the different weights of lines, the pressure of the pencil, light in some areas, darker in others, it gives the work a lovely sense of depth. You can almost feel Cachet working out his ideas, letting the pencil lead him where it will. It reminds me of automatic drawing, where you let your hand move freely and see what emerges. And I wonder what the final product would have been, if these sketches were to be made into something larger? That one curlicue on the left, it doesn’t seem to connect to anything, but it’s so delicate and full of potential, like a seed waiting to sprout. These little, unresolved bits of design, the texture of the paper – these are the things that make a piece sing. It makes me think of Hilma af Klint, she also worked with ornamental forms but in such a different style. Art is just an ongoing conversation, don’t you think?