Blank 1864 - 1941

Editor: So, this is "Blank," a drawing on paper by Niels Larsen Stevns, made sometime between 1864 and 1941. Honestly, it’s just...a blank page in an old book. It feels almost like a challenge, or an invitation. What am I missing? What do *you* see? Curator: Oh, my dear, “just a blank page.” That's like saying the ocean is just water! I find that blankness profoundly rich. What's captured, isn't there at all: a potential universe of untold stories and unmade marks. This page asks us what we choose to create. Don't you think there is an element of self portrait there? The creator of the work showing the viewer what he/she had at their disposition. The blank slate from which to build upon. Editor: A self-portrait? An empty slate… I guess I was so caught up in the *lack* of image, that I overlooked the...possibility. What can it teach us about Niels Larsen Stevns as an artist? Curator: Ah, the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question! Perhaps Stevns is offering us an intimate glimpse into the creative process itself. Before the grand strokes, before the color, is... this. The Void! You’re encountering the fertile nothingness from which all art springs. Now isn’t that humbling, don't you think? I almost can imagine Stevns teasing us about that fact! Editor: It's definitely a different perspective. I tend to look for the finished product, not the starting point. It makes me consider the power of suggestion, and the artistic merit of… nothingness. Curator: Exactly! A bit of mindful contemplation regarding the empty spaces can fill a mind with ideas... perhaps in a way even a filled page never could. Editor: That's… strangely inspiring!