Staand meisje met hoed 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this drawing of a standing girl with a hat, which can be found at the Rijksmuseum. Looking at this, I'm reminded that drawing is like thinking out loud. I can imagine the artist making a line, then another, then squinting at the page trying to coax the drawing into being. You know, a little like life itself. The girl with the hat emerges gradually through a series of tentative marks. You can see where the artist has gone over a line again and again, a kind of visual stutter. These aren't perfect lines, but they have character, each one accumulating to create a sense of form and depth. In a funny way, this drawing puts me in mind of work by Manet, or even Morisot - you know, artists who were interested in capturing the fleeting moments of everyday life. And it's these small acts of mark-making that link us all, artist to artist, across time.