Studier af heste 1864 - 1941

Editor: Here we have Niels Larsen Stevns' "Studies of Horses," created sometime between 1864 and 1941. It's a pencil and coloured pencil drawing on paper. What immediately strikes me is how ephemeral it feels, these wispy, almost fleeting lines capturing the suggestion of movement. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The immediacy of the line is certainly paramount. Observe how the artist eschews any impulse toward volumetric solidity, favoring instead a skeletal architecture. It’s the suggestive interplay of these lines, their angular intersections and curvilinear divergences, that constitute the form. Notice especially the contrast between the tightly rendered areas of the head and the more gestural sweeps delineating the body. Editor: So, it’s the relationships between these lines themselves that give the drawing its impact, rather than any attempt at realism? Curator: Precisely. Consider the diagonal thrust of certain lines against the implied horizon – a deliberate act that destabilizes the pictorial plane. What effect do you believe this dissonance achieves? Editor: I guess it emphasises the dynamic energy and gives the piece a real sense of forward momentum. Almost like you've caught sight of it in the corner of your eye. I see it differently now. Curator: Indeed, the work functions as a diagram, a deconstruction of equine form rather than a mimetic representation. We move from the subject's material presence towards the work's symbolic, diagrammatic register. Editor: I really appreciate your perspective; I was so focused on what the piece was ‘of’, but actually the most interesting part is how it exists as a study of shapes. Curator: An important thing to keep in mind when interpreting any artwork!