Steleformer 1864 - 1941

This is Steleformer, a notebook sketch by Niels Larsen Stevns. The pencil lines are light and searching, feeling like the artist is thinking aloud, mapping something out. I love how the page is also filled with text, weaving images and words together. It reminds me that art is always a form of conversation and exchange. I love the top of the page, you can see the forms of two stele emerging, sketched out in lines which hover and repeat. There's a real intimacy in seeing an artist's raw, unfiltered thoughts. It feels like we're catching a glimpse into their process, rather than a finished, polished statement. Think of Cy Twombly's scribbled drawings, which similarly embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations, opening up a space of imagination around the artwork. It is a wonderful thing to behold.