Uidentificerede udkast (nytestamentelig scene?) 1937 - 1938

This is a drawing, "Uidentificerede udkast (nytestamentelig scene?)" made by Niels Larsen Stevns. It seems like the artist was working out an idea, maybe for a larger painting or mural, of a new testament scene. I can imagine Stevns in his studio, rapidly sketching with a graphite pencil to capture figures and forms as they came to him. There are many different compositional ideas layered on top of each other, each line seems tentative and searching, like the artist is feeling his way through the dark. There’s a real energy in the marks, a kind of nervous excitement. The figures are only just emerging, in that beautiful way that only drawings have. Like the work of Philip Guston, it's a reminder that sometimes the most powerful works are the ones where the artist isn't afraid to leave things unresolved, open to interpretation. It's a testament to the power of drawing as a way of thinking and seeing.