Studies c. 1905 - 1910

Editor: Here we have Carel Adolph Lion Cachet's "Studies", made around 1905 to 1910, a simple pencil drawing on paper currently residing in the Rijksmuseum. It looks like something straight out of someone’s personal sketchbook; kind of a bare-bones geometric abstraction. What do you see here? Curator: I see the artist wrestling with the very materials of artmaking. Pencil, paper, simple lines – these are the elemental tools. Cachet isn’t presenting a finished product but exposing the raw process of observation and creation. It invites questions about his labour. Was it quick and experimental, or slow and deliberate? Editor: I hadn’t thought about the labour involved. It seems so… spontaneous. Curator: Spontaneity is, itself, a constructed ideal! We can see in these Studies, the geometric structures; is Cachet challenging, or re-enforcing established forms of production and labour? Is he merely copying objects available in a studio space, or contemplating greater conceptual ideals? It makes us reconsider the hierarchy between ‘high art’ and the simple act of drawing. Editor: So, the material itself challenges our assumptions about what’s valuable in art. Curator: Exactly. And about what it *means* to make something versus consume it. This isn't a grand statement for a wealthy patron. This is exploration, directly with simple materials. This makes us reconsider both production and reception. How do *we* find value in a piece that might've once been completely unseen? Editor: I suppose I came in thinking it was just a simple sketch. Curator: And hopefully, you'll leave knowing the opposite: a deep understanding can be gleamed from everyday media and practice. Editor: I'll definitely be rethinking how I look at preliminary works now. Thanks for pointing that out!