Målangivelser 1937 - 1938

Niels Larsen Stevns made this drawing, titled 'Målangivelser', at an unknown date. Here you see marks made with graphite on paper. I imagine the artist in his studio, or maybe outdoors, quickly sketching. There's a sense of immediacy to the marks. He's trying to capture something ephemeral, something he sees or feels in a fleeting moment. Look at the curved lines and the numbers jotted down. They create a visual rhythm across the page. The texture of the paper itself becomes part of the artwork, lending a kind of quiet, understated quality to the work. I imagine other artists also making notes and drawings, not necessarily for show, but as a kind of thinking through making. It’s like a conversation across time, each artist building on the ideas of those who came before. I think that's what art is, really, a big conversation.