Ornamentstudier og notater 1919

Niels Larsen Stevns made this sketch, Ornamentstudier og notater, with pencil, and it feels like we're peeking into his notebook, right? The marks are tentative, searching – the kind you make when you're thinking through your hand. Look at how he repeats the floral motifs, exploring variations of each form. You can almost feel him working out the rhythm of the design. There's a lightness to the touch, a kind of playful curiosity in the way he coaxes these shapes onto the page. See the inscription “boy slaves ear cake”? I wonder what that refers to! It reminds me of the way Matisse would use drawing as a way of feeling his way into form. Like Matisse, Stevns seems to be using these studies not as ends in themselves, but as a way of training his eye and hand.