Studier af roser 1930 - 1936

Niels Larsen Stevns made this study of roses with pencil on paper, but the exact date is unknown. What strikes me is the immediacy of the marks. You can sense him feeling his way around the forms, exploring the textures of the leaves, and the budding flower. Artmaking is a process, and this drawing makes that process really visible. The paper is thin and slightly discolored, with a couple of foxing spots, which gives the drawing an intimate, almost vulnerable quality. The pencil lines are soft and smudgy, with some areas more densely worked than others. Look at the way he's used hatching to suggest the shadows on the rose. It’s like he’s thinking aloud with his pencil, and the drawing becomes a record of his thoughts. It is this that connects me most to the piece. This drawing reminds me of the rapid sketches of Matisse. Like Matisse, Larsen Stevns is interested in the rhythms and patterns of the natural world, and in the act of translating those patterns into art. Art embraces ambiguity, and this drawing offers a glimpse into the artist's process, without ever fully resolving into a finished image.