Kristushoved 1930

Niels Skovgaard made this plaster head, Kristushoved, sometime between 1858 and 1938. Imagine him in the studio, maybe with a bit of beard himself, squinting at the clay, adding wetness, taking it away, building up the mass of the hair around the face. The face itself has a kind of calm to it, eyes closed or nearly closed, but it is more like a momentary repose. The slightly open mouth makes me think he could speak, or that he has just spoken. I wonder if Niels was thinking about what the figure might say, what wisdom he might share. This isn't one of those smooth, classical sculptures. You can see the marks of the hand, the building up of the form. It's like the artist is feeling his way through the material, trying to find the figure within. It’s what all artists do, in a way; we start with something formless and work to bring a new form into being. It’s an ongoing conversation, this making thing.