Stående kvinde 1905

Joakim Skovgaard made this pencil drawing, Stående kvinde, around 1905, and it feels like a gentle echo from another time. I can imagine him sketching away, trying to capture the essence of this standing woman. There is such a stillness in the sketch. It looks like the beginning of a painting; a kind of under-drawing, or maybe it is an artwork in itself. I keep wondering about what he might have been thinking as he drew. The lines are so delicate, creating a sense of quiet reverence. Her hands are clasped together, in a prayer-like pose. The folds of her dress and headscarf remind me of other sketches, by other artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker, and I think about how artists are always looking, and sharing ideas, across time. The marks are tentative. He is trying to find a form for the unknown. And that feels true to how paintings are made, and how meaning can be found in the simplest gesture.