Studie af en rygvendt mand siddende i en klapstol 1930 - 1936

This is a sketch of a man sitting in a folding chair seen from behind, made with graphite on paper by Niels Larsen Stevns. The thing that strikes me is the economy of line; Stevns is really thinking through the form, trying to find the most efficient way to describe it. Take a look at the way he renders the arm resting on the chair – it’s almost like a shorthand, a series of hatched lines that suggest the curve of the limb and the texture of the fabric. And the head, that simple loop, like a coil spring, implying hair and the back of the head. It has a real material presence. The texture of the paper, the varying pressure of the graphite, the way the lines build up in certain areas, gives it a kind of solidity, the feeling of the artist's hand at work. It's fascinating to see how an artist like Stevns, who was working around the turn of the century, shares this interest in the process of seeing and describing with someone like, say, Cézanne. It's all part of this ongoing conversation about how we perceive the world and translate it into art.