Architectuurdetails c. 1934s

Curator: Oh, it's like stumbling upon a secret architect's journal! There's such a tentative, searching quality to these lines. Editor: Indeed. What we are looking at here is "Architectuurdetails," or Architectural Details, a pencil drawing by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, dating back to around the 1930s, here on view at the Rijksmuseum. What strikes you about its modernism, its linearity? Curator: Well, before the "modernism," it feels so… fleeting. As if Cachet was trying to capture something that was almost disappearing before his eyes. Or perhaps ideas rapidly appearing, you know, not fully formed, still in process... Editor: Precisely. I would argue this aligns perfectly with modernist principles that privileged experimentation and the process of creation itself. We must consider that this drawing exists within a very specific socio-political context. Early modernist architecture, which often displayed raw construction materials like concrete, exposed structural supports and minimalist ornamentation, served as an alternative to the perceived decadence of past architecture. Curator: I can see that. There’s a vulnerability in the unrefined strokes that clashes a little with my expectations of architectural drawings, which are typically meticulous blueprints that give an explicit depiction of the future built object. And in that way, Cachet is offering us a raw vision! He shares something akin to his first impressions with us. Editor: Think of it as resistance against prescribed notions of what art –or even architecture— should be. But let us not forget Cachet may also have been rejecting restrictive academic guidelines; instead, we see his drawing embracing subjective experiences, favoring movement and fluidity of thought. Curator: Mmh, indeed. He seems to invite us to embrace uncertainty, not only regarding building and design, but existence more broadly, if I'm allowed to romanticize a bit! It’s beautiful and incomplete—so very human. Editor: This perspective encapsulates the beauty of art: to facilitate conversations around a multitude of meanings through time. Let us now explore another dimension within this space, armed with our reflections.