T.h. skitser til maleriet af Andreas Weidenhaupt, Kunstakademiet?. T.v. skitse af ryttere og to stole 1746 - 1828

Editor: Here we have C.A. Lorentzen’s pencil drawing, "T.h. skitser til maleriet af Andreas Weidenhaupt, Kunstakademiet?. T.v. skitse af ryttere og to stole" from between 1746 and 1828. The studies feel so immediate, almost like a quick glance. How do you read a sketch like this one? Curator: Well, consider the socio-political climate in late 18th-century Denmark. Lorentzen's quick sketches weren't just exercises; they reflected an era grappling with shifting power dynamics, where the Academy sought to define and control artistic expression. Who was afforded the luxury to sit and be drawn? Editor: I see your point. So, the very act of sketching these figures, or the chairs they might sit on, speaks to a social hierarchy? Curator: Precisely. Think about it. The visible absence of certain classes in these sketches says almost as much as their presence. Note, too, the incomplete nature of these drawings; what power dynamics are at play between artist and sitter, between Academy and student, to make such quick sketches the mode of visual representation? What choices are being made about whose image gets to be rendered in full and who only merits a trace? Editor: That’s fascinating! I never considered the sketches as anything other than an exercise. Curator: Art rarely exists in a vacuum. Looking at even simple pencil strokes through a lens of power helps us unravel the complex web of social relations embedded in art. Does looking at it now shift your understanding? Editor: Absolutely. Now I'm thinking about who is *not* represented and the implications of that absence. It is really powerful to consider who gets remembered and how. Curator: Exactly! That tension, that silence, can be just as evocative.