Stoelen met ornamentele rugleuningen 1908

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this drawing of chairs with ornamental backs, on paper, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. What I like about this drawing is the way the chairs are rendered with such delicate, searching lines, it really gets at the way artmaking is a process of thinking through seeing. The texture here is all about the grain of the paper and the soft give of the graphite, it has a real lightness to it. Look at the front left leg of the chair on the left, see how the line wavers and doubles back on itself? It’s like Cachet is feeling his way around the form, trying to capture its essence rather than just replicating its appearance. The drawing feels spacious and ethereal. This reminds me a little of Matisse’s line drawings, where a simple contour can evoke a whole world of feeling and form. Ultimately art invites us to pause, to look, and to question the world around us.