Stående kvindelig model 1921 - 1923

Curator: Vilhelm Lundstrom's "Stående kvindelig model," created between 1921 and 1923, presents a standing female nude rendered in ink. It resides at the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. Editor: Immediately striking is the dynamism, wouldn’t you say? The bold, gestural lines evoke such raw energy, despite the static pose. There's almost a violence in the way the ink has been applied, splattered even. Curator: Indeed. Lundstrom was working within a modernist framework. His focus wasn't on exact representation, but on conveying essential form and expression. The looseness certainly aligns with broader social changes. One could argue that, following the First World War, traditional depictions of women, so tightly controlled, became less palatable. This sketch seems to resist that controlled representation, doesn't it? Editor: Precisely, and that resistance is embedded within the artistic approach itself. Look at the negative space—it's as vital as the lines defining the figure. Semiotically speaking, these elements combined trigger the senses to interpret the image. Curator: Interesting point, particularly regarding interpretation. There's something both vulnerable and powerful in this seemingly unfinished work. How the female form has historically been a battleground for control and representation by a dominating patriarchal structure... Do you find it empowering that we are offered an image that is raw and unfished instead of sexualized or an object of male desire? Editor: The rawness of the application evokes movement that defies our usual idea about portrait. We lose precision of a traditional drawing in exchange for expressive movement. I do appreciate the way the artist utilizes simplicity. One might be tempted to add flourishes, embellishments. This demonstrates great artistic maturity. Curator: And perhaps reveals more of our projected cultural assumptions about femininity than of the figure herself? Editor: Precisely! I'm convinced that any artistic method is a method to reflect on art, artist, model and spectator at the same time. A powerful work on the gaze and the method! Curator: I concur; a stimulating piece with which to begin our exploration of form and representation.