Portret van Joanna Hermine Lion Cachet-Cordes c. 1930

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this drawing, “Portret van Joanna Hermine Lion Cachet-Cordes,” with pen on paper, and I love how immediate it feels. It’s like he was chasing a thought, or maybe a memory, across the page. Look at those looping lines. See how they build up the form, how they suggest the weight of the head and the softness of her hair? It's all about the layering, the searching. The ink is so direct, so raw. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving, trying to capture something fleeting. There’s this sense of vulnerability, of exposing the process, that's really compelling. The way the lines drift off into abstraction above the head, it reminds me a little of some of Twombly’s scribbles, but with a tenderness that's all Cachet's own. For me, art is always about this conversation, this back-and-forth between intention and accident, control and letting go.