Illustration til St. St. Blicher: "Mowns". F.o.: kirke bag stendige; f.n.: gravsted (?) med spade 1886

Curator: Looking at this drawing, I am immediately struck by its starkness. The artist seems to be wrestling with loss and perhaps even the macabre. What do you see? Editor: It definitely has a sombre mood. Hans Smidth's “Illustration til St. St. Blicher: "Mowns"”, created in 1886 using ink and pencil on paper, shows two contrasting scenes intertwined by a tree; at the top, a domestic scene unfolds, seemingly a bride getting ready with assistance from other women. Then below, the grim reality of a funeral. The composition alone tells a story of the duality of life and death. Curator: Yes, that duality resonates strongly, especially when you consider Smidth’s other works. It's important to note that Romanticism, of which this drawing borrows a few ideas from, had this obsession with the sublime, in both senses; not just in beauty but also the unsettling confrontation with mortality and human insignificance. Editor: I can almost feel that melancholic atmosphere, amplified by the monochrome. You can see the delicate lines creating intricate details. Look at how each face shows subtle traces of emotion and sorrow! I imagine the process of this technique resembles the act of carefully preserving precious memories that time cannot steal away. Curator: Absolutely. I’m also compelled to think about folk art practices of 19th-century Denmark. The act of creating such detailed narrative art was deeply rooted in communal experiences, reflecting shared social, and cultural values around marriage and death rituals within rural communities. Editor: What always strikes me with pieces like this, is how the individual and the collective intertwine! Smidth somehow found the sweet spot to unite his personal experiences with observations about society, all condensed onto a single canvas! Curator: Indeed! Reflecting on "Mowns," we see how a seemingly simple drawing becomes a poignant meditation on life’s cycles, where community and the stark realities of human experience converge. Editor: It makes you wonder what stories inspired Smidth in creating such intimate glimpses.