Målangivelser 1937 - 1938

This sketchbook page was made by Niels Larsen Stevns, and shows an array of numbers, measurements and diagrams drawn in pencil. The light touch of the pencil on the paper lets the ground breathe. The graphite feels like a spider web, a network of loose connections. We can see erasures, revisions, and ghost images of previous marks. Look at the curving lines near the top of the page, floating, unanchored. What are they describing? An elevation? The side of a boat? The use of numbers alongside the drawing, gives the piece an analytical feel. You can see the artist thinking through the subject in layers. It’s like we’re looking at the architecture of an idea. Stevns' studies of light and color remind me of Bonnard, though Bonnard's sensibility is much more lush. Ultimately, this page is a reminder that art is as much about the thinking and the process as it is about the final image.