Schetsboek met 27 bladen c. 1906

Curator: Right now we're looking at "Schetsboek met 27 bladen"—Sketchbook with 27 sheets—created around 1906 by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My goodness, it’s intense! I'm getting this really strong visual buzz just from the cover. Like looking into a swarm of… are those flames? Or feathers? It's almost hypnotic, in a slightly overwhelming way. Curator: Absolutely. And that feeling is quite deliberate. Cachet, though known for his involvement in decorative arts and architecture, engages here with organic, layered patterns in mixed media to present the cover design itself as the piece. It’s not *just* a sketchbook; the cover signals what might be seen as a radical openness to new patterns of living, moving against the industrial grid through an intentional application of flowing repetitive organic motifs. Editor: Wow. So it's like, an anti-grid? The visual equivalent of a "power to the people" chant? I mean, the repetition almost feels like one. What does it say about the drawings or sketches *inside* the book? Are they rebelling too? I'm itching to flip through it. Curator: That tension is what's so interesting! In its historical context, with industrialization and social reforms vying for prominence, the sketchbook can be read as a site of resistance and reimagining. It poses critical questions about how we create both art and society. Are we just reinforcing existing systems? Or forging paths toward genuinely alternative futures? The blank pages become less about representation and more about possibility. Editor: Makes me think about sketchbooks I've filled over the years – this battle between neat rows and letting the hand just GO. I feel that push and pull reflected right here on the cover of something intended for freewheeling creativity! Okay, Cachet, you've given me something to think about for my own practice, too. It has certainly opened up a lot for just one look at it. Curator: And for me it has prompted deeper reflection on art’s capability not only to reflect the politics, culture and customs of an age but equally, even to propose radically alternative social imaginaries. It shows that, in every age, the role of an artist is never to settle with the mundane but strive to go beyond it. Editor: So true! I won't look at a sketchbook the same way.