Studie c. 1895 - 1900

Curator: We are looking at "Studie," a sketch by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, created around 1895 to 1900, here at the Rijksmuseum. It's done with pencil and graphite on paper. What strikes you about it initially? Editor: It's whispers of figures, isn’t it? Faint suggestions, like memories fading in and out of focus. I sense a story trying to be told, but only half-remembered. Curator: The ephemeral nature of this drawing style reflects Cachet's context. Around the turn of the century, modernism brought experimentation in art, emphasizing subjectivity. This piece embodies that search for the essence of form rather than precise representation, impacting how figures, particularly women, are portrayed. Editor: True, there’s an unfinished quality, and yet, the feeling is palpable. There’s an intimacy there, capturing a private moment in this collection of incomplete marks and subtle shades. Makes you wonder about the artist’s own relationship with the sitter, doesn’t it? Curator: Precisely, the informality offers a powerful lens for intersectional discussions around gender. Whose gaze is being reflected here, and for whom? Such informal sketches can allow new perspectives on the usual rigid, often patriarchal portraiture practices of the time. It encourages thinking on the position of women in that period and how they're being represented in preliminary, arguably more 'raw' forms of art. Editor: So raw it could almost be ripped! And perhaps, in its incompleteness, lies its power. The artist is vulnerable, the subject is vulnerable and then us, as viewers are made vulnerable by our gaze. Curator: That's insightful. Editor: I see echoes of potential everywhere. Curator: That openness to possibilities feels deeply in line with our curatorial intent too; to encourage everyone to see and think with fresh eyes. Editor: Art as conversation—unfinished, always evolving! That's something I can stand behind.