To duer 1746 - 1828

Curator: This little drawing is "To duer", which simply means "Two pigeons," created with pencil on paper by C.A. Lorentzen, sometime between 1746 and 1828. What strikes you about it? Editor: An undeniable air of gentle solemnity! They're rendered so delicately; the lines featherlight, evoking the birds' soft plumage. It's more than just a study, don't you think? There's an intimate observation there. Curator: I completely agree. And seeing it now, it makes you consider its place in a lineage of animal studies—part scientific document, part artistic endeavor. Before photography, the pencil was such a critical tool for cataloging the natural world. But also a way of domesticating nature within the realm of art, right? Editor: Absolutely! It raises an interesting question, doesn’t it? How much are we actually seeing these birds versus Lorentzen's own projections of them? I mean, pigeons are inherently urban animals, agents of our cities…yet here, they are rendered as almost ethereal beings. Curator: Yes! Pigeons occupying such an odd space of simultaneously being everywhere and nowhere in our visual consciousness. They become symbols of both urban grit and transcendent beauty, a paradox so acutely rendered by Lorentzen’s subtle hand. They could represent anything, then – hope, love, or just a day in the park? Editor: Precisely! It speaks to how art mediates our engagement with the world around us, filtering the ‘real’ through artistic interpretation. To ponder this further opens into thoughts about human intention behind any given image-making. It all encourages such thought and re-evaluation. Curator: Exactly. So even the simplest sketch of "Two Pigeons" prompts reflections far beyond ornithology. It really calls into question the viewer’s intentions too, when staring back at a pigeon’s fixed and unknowable stare. Editor: And ultimately, the work's beauty lies not only in its aesthetic charm, but also in the very dialogue it initiates – between art, nature, and ourselves. Thank you.