Udkast til "Kristus velsigner de små børn" 1937 - 1938

This sketchy drawing, Udkast til "Kristus velsigner de små børn", was made by Niels Larsen Stevns as a preliminary study, probably in a notebook, using ink. The marks here are so economical, aren’t they? Just enough to get the gist of the scene, a kind of shorthand, like a note to oneself. Look at the way he uses parallel lines to create form and shadow. It's a kind of visual code, almost abstract, but somehow the figures emerge. The blank page showing through the marks is doing so much work. You can almost feel the artist thinking, “How little can I do to say the most?” This reminds me of other artists who use drawing to find the underlying structure of things, like Giacometti or even Matisse. But Stevns has his own way of balancing simplicity and depth. Art isn't about answers, it's about the conversation, the questions, and the space in between.