Løse figurskitser 1879 - 1910

Editor: So, this is *Loose Figure Sketches* by Oluf Hartmann, created sometime between 1879 and 1910. It’s a pencil drawing. What strikes me is its unfinished quality; it feels like a fleeting moment captured, but also, in certain ways, an intentionally obscured moment. How do you read this piece? Curator: What interests me is how this work challenges traditional notions of portraiture and representation, particularly within its historical context. It appears as a preparatory work, which begs the question, preparatory to what and why present these seemingly disposable figurations? Considering the era, how might Hartmann have been responding to the increasing professionalisation and industrialization of art and artistic training in Denmark? Does its open and ambiguous approach engage with wider intellectual ideas on personal freedom and national identity? Editor: That's fascinating! I hadn't thought about it as a kind of quiet protest. What is that mass of swirling lines on the left side? Curator: It’s hard to be sure, isn’t it? Is it a crowd, a landscape, or something more abstract? The ambiguity opens up discussions of visibility and legibility, potentially echoing contemporary societal anxieties. Which communities or narratives, perhaps especially those of women, people of colour, and queer individuals, were excluded or erased from conventional history painting? Editor: So, by not explicitly defining these figures, Hartmann might be making a statement about representation itself? Curator: Exactly. Think about it in relation to the concept of ‘negative space’ in art – what is not there, or not clearly defined, is as important as what is. Editor: Wow, I never would have interpreted the sketch that way initially, thinking of negative space and its relationship to excluded communities or identities! It makes me look at it with entirely new eyes. Curator: Precisely the aim. Let’s encourage a continued critical analysis of even seemingly simple sketches and their place within shifting cultural landscapes.