Studies c. 1905 - 1906

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made these Studies, with pencil on paper, and it’s all about process. You can see his mind at work, the bare bones of the idea. What gets me is the grid: the ruled lines, the evenly spaced dots, it’s like a musical score. And the smudges around the architectural details suggest that Cachet returned to it over time. The varying line weights also give a sense of the different levels of importance in the image. There’s something so satisfying about the way the artist lays bare the bones of the composition. Look at those clusters of circles, like rivets on a ship, giving rhythm and structure to the piece. It reminds me of some of Dorothea Rockburne's geometric studies, these mathematical and philosophical underpinnings to a creative practice. It’s not about the finished product, but about the messy, beautiful journey of getting there. Art is all about conversation, right?