Ontwerp voor een boekband met bloemmotief 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this book cover design with pencil and gouache, but I get the impression the work isn't quite finished. I love seeing the underlying structure in pieces like this, the bare bones. The sketch marks here on the left show the artist working out the underlying shapes and the gridlike structure which creates a border around the book. It's like seeing the thought process itself, so raw and exposed. On the right, the shapes are filled in and become petals, with gouache in a muted palette of grey, yellow and blue. I love the way the grid continues behind the floral motif, unifying the two sides. It makes me think of other artists like Mondrian, or Hilma af Klint, who also use grids to create the underlying structure of their work. Ultimately, it's like they are showing us the scaffolding for their vision.