Studie af brun bjørn 1864 - 1941

This is Niels Larsen Stevns’s "Studie af brun bjørn", or "Study of a Brown Bear," a pencil drawing, though we can't know exactly when it was made. It's a sketch, so not a finished work of art, but what was its purpose? In 19th and early 20th century Denmark, there was an intense interest in both naturalism and nationhood. How could artists define what it meant to be Danish? They might look to local landscapes, local people, local animals. Bear populations had dwindled in Denmark centuries before Stevns was born. Does this drawing represent a kind of longing for a wilder, more natural Denmark? Was Stevns hoping to capture something essential about the national character by studying this animal? Perhaps research into Stevns's other works, and the writings of Danish intellectuals of the time, might shed light on these questions.