Blyantsrids af kvindefigur 1901

Fritz Syberg made this pencil drawing of a woman, on paper. It’s all about the bare bones, isn’t it? Look how Syberg uses the pencil like he’s feeling his way through the form. The lines are so tentative, so searching. It's like he's trying to find the woman within the paper, or maybe he's letting her emerge, bit by bit. The texture of the paper plays a big part; it's not just a blank canvas, but an active participant. And the way the lines fade in and out, they suggest a kind of ephemerality. It reminds me of a Cy Twombly sketch, but with a quiet, Scandinavian sensibility. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the possibilities of incompleteness.