Studie af Oehlenschlæger efter maleri. Farveangivelser 1930 - 1936

Niels Larsen Stevns made this sketch of Oehlenschlæger with graphite, it looks like, sometime between 1864 and 1941. You can see the process so clearly, Stevns searching for the form, the right line, pressing harder in certain areas, letting the hand fly. There's such a sense of intimacy here, a kind of quiet observation. The materiality of the paper and the graphite, it’s humble, immediate. It’s not trying to be slick or finished, it embraces the raw energy of the moment, the hand working something out. See how Stevns uses hatching to create shadows under the collar. You can almost feel the pressure of the graphite on the page. Stevns reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also had an interest in portraiture, and whose work also had a similarly energetic, searching quality to it. It’s like Stevns is saying, "Here’s a starting point, now let’s see where we can go from here."