Ontwerp voor een vaas 1874 - 1945

This is Carel Adolph Lion Cachet’s design for a vase, created with pen and ink on paper. I imagine the artist working quickly, the ink bleeding out to make these blurred, fluid forms – creatures, plants, decorations – it's hard to tell which. I get the sense that he was more interested in the process than the outcome. He seems to be thinking, what can the hand do, if I let it go wild for a while? I wonder if he was also looking at the work of other artists at the time, maybe someone like Odilon Redon, or even some of the folk artists. Look at the way the lines waver and thicken, like the artist is improvising a language of form right there on the page. It feels raw and spontaneous, like the artist is embracing imperfection and chance. You can see that he has something to say. Ultimately, this artwork reminds us that artists are always in conversation with one another, building upon the ideas and experiments of those who came before.