Sovende barn 1938

John Christensen made this small drawing of a sleeping child in December of 1938. The scribbly marks build up into soft forms with gentle shading, and you get the sense of the artist working fast to capture a fleeting moment of peace. It's the kind of drawing you might make in a notebook, more interested in the process than the product. Looking closely, you can see the way the lines vary in weight and direction. Some are dark and decisive, others are light and tentative, almost like the artist is feeling their way around the subject. See the child's hair, how the dark lines tangle and swirl, creating a sense of depth and texture? That energy contrasts with the smoother, more flowing lines that define the child's face and body. There's something very tender about the way Christensen renders the vulnerability of sleep. I am reminded of Käthe Kollwitz, another artist who worked with simple materials to create powerful images of everyday life. Like Kollwitz, Christensen seems to be interested in capturing the emotional truth of a scene, rather than simply recording its surface appearance.