Sketch sheet 

Editor: This is "Sketch sheet", an undated pencil drawing by Otto Scholderer, housed in the Städel Museum. Looking at it, I'm struck by the intimacy of a peek into an artist's personal sketchbook, especially with these initial sketches on aged paper. What's your interpretation of this seemingly random collection of drawings? Curator: It's like eavesdropping on Scholderer's thought process, isn’t it? The 'randomness,' as you call it, is quite deliberate, I imagine. You have studies of figures alongside what appear to be abstract musings - that tiled checkerboard with symbols and shapes gives a game-like, playful energy. It whispers of experimentations, possibilities, directions not yet fully formed, wouldn't you agree? Almost as if the page itself is a stage. I feel invited to contemplate the figures in quiet poses as if frozen mid-scene on some stage somewhere. And those quickly etched, sharp diagonal lines over on the right…I wonder where his imagination might have been headed there, eh? What do you think of that? Editor: I didn’t consider it that way! I was so focused on identifying the subjects, that it didn't register as Scholderer’s thoughts flowing from pencil to paper, capturing this mental 'stage' of play. The game, too... that hadn't even crossed my mind, now I’m just filled with all these possibilities, haha! Curator: Exactly! And it all comes back to how art doesn’t always have to offer solid answers. Maybe sometimes, the art is simply an invitation to inquire…like this peculiar and personal ‘Sketch sheet’ which invites its viewers to create a narrative. It can even become playful, just as you said, eh? Editor: Thank you; seeing this "Sketch sheet" as an intimate peek into an artist's imaginative space really transforms the way I understand these sketches! Curator: My pleasure entirely! I can’t wait to find the time to make artful peeks like this as a habit as a student; thanks for sharing this intimate time with Scholderer and me, yeah?