Blad med udkast til Langeliniemonument 1925 - 1928

Editor: This is Svend Rathsack's "Sketch for the Langelinie Monument," created between 1925 and 1928. It's a pencil drawing on paper, a preliminary idea for a monument. I'm struck by its energy, a dynamic, almost frantic feel, very different from the stoic memorials I'm used to seeing. What grabs your attention in this piece? Curator: Ah, a flurry of activity, isn’t it? I'm always drawn to the artist's initial impulse, that raw, unfiltered vision. These aren’t just lines on paper, they are whispers of a grander idea still taking shape. It's interesting to consider the Langelinie Monument in Copenhagen as a site, a place of remembrance but also of bustling port life. What sort of balance do you see the artist striking between historical gravitas and everyday dynamism? Editor: Well, there’s definitely a sense of movement, of figures caught in action, rather than posed in static glory. It's almost cinematic. Do you think that Rathsack was intentionally trying to break from the traditional, more rigid forms of war memorials? Curator: Perhaps! He certainly seems interested in capturing a lived experience, rather than an idealized one. Notice the way he uses the pencil to create depth and shadow, a constant pushing and pulling of light. I wonder, though, about the figures themselves. Are they generalized, or do you sense the beginnings of individualized portraits here? Editor: I think they are mostly generalized, suggesting types of people rather than specific individuals. I'm fascinated by how much information he conveys with just a few strokes. Thinking about it now, perhaps the monument does offer a new, moving view on historical memory. Curator: Exactly! The beauty of sketches like these lies in their capacity to hold multiple truths at once - both the weight of history and the promise of individual stories yet to be told.