Opstilling. Kande, flaske m.m. 1929

Vilhelm Lundstrom made this lithograph, Opstilling. Kande, flaske m.m. (Still Life. Pitcher, Bottle, etc.), with crayon and tusche. Just look at the sheer physicality of the charcoal, the grainy texture builds up to create these massive weighty forms. You can really imagine him hunched over the surface, pushing hard to get that deep black. It is a real workout! I can see hints of cubism in how Lundstrom simplifies the forms, the planes and lines giving a geometric edge to these everyday vessels. I wonder if he was trying to work out how to see and represent the world. Think of other artists like Giorgio Morandi. There is a quiet poetry in the arrangement, a meditation on form, light, and shadow, and the emotional resonance that can be found in the simplest of things. Ultimately, painting, or in this case lithography, is an act of translation, an attempt to capture something essential about our perceptions. It is this conversation across time and between artists that keeps the creative spirit alive.