Løse skitser af dyr 1900 - 1905

Niels Larsen Stevns sketched these ‘Loose Sketches of Animals’ in pencil on paper, date unknown, and I can imagine him working fast, trying to capture the essence of each animal with just a few lines. The pale tan color of the paper gives the sketches a warm, aged feel, like an old photograph or a memory fading over time. He’s used very thin and light lines, barely there, to suggest the forms of cows, maybe, or other farm animals, and perhaps a bird in flight. I wonder if Stevns was outside, quickly jotting down what he saw in the fields, or if he was working from memory, trying to recreate the way an animal moves and stands. I love the simple, almost childlike quality of these drawings. It reminds me that sometimes the most powerful art is about capturing a feeling, a moment, rather than creating a perfect representation. These studies are about gesture and movement, something many artists work to capture.