Udkast til "H.C. Andersen besøger Thorvaldsen i Rom med Medailleur Christensen" 1937 - 1938

This pencil sketch was made by Niels Larsen Stevns. Just imagine the artist with their sketchbook in front of them, trying to capture the scene before it disappears! It’s pretty loosely rendered, but with enough descriptive information for us to know that it’s meant to depict a moment of exchange between people, in a room with objects. There's a kind of open-endedness that invites you to complete it in your mind. Looking at this drawing, I am reminded of how much drawing depends on a conversation between observation and mark-making. The artist sees something, makes a mark, and then sees again, making adjustments until the drawing is finished or, more often, abandoned. You never really finish them anyway, do you? This conversation is ongoing; it never really ends, as artists continue to look at, interpret, and respond to one another's work, building on a collective history of seeing and making.