Ansigtsstudie og uidentificerede skitser 1900 - 1905

Curator: Let’s discuss Niels Larsen Stevns' "Ansigtsstudie og uidentificerede skitser," dating from 1900-1905, here at the SMK. My immediate response is drawn to the intimacy suggested by these pencil and colored pencil sketches. They seem very personal. Editor: It's striking how raw and process-oriented it is. I am curious, what kind of pencils do you think Stevns was using? I wonder about the social context that made such a private display of working drawings acceptable, where these types of sketches usually remained behind closed doors of studios or private homes, not for display like the finished artwork. Curator: The sketch’s very display within the museum framework transforms its function. It moves from a mere preparatory tool to an artwork studied and valued in its own right. We read into the figure, looking for a subject or narrative to create where there isn’t one. It seems the museum and Stevns himself shaped how we see this page in his sketchbook. Editor: Yes, the shift is key. It challenges our preconceived notions about artistic production. Are these mere studies, or does their display elevate them? Considering his methods, and these raw marks on paper – this shows the consumption of readily available and mass-produced graphite and colored pencils. This suggests that these accessible materials are essential to the democratization of art at the time. Curator: Absolutely. And the way this specific sketchbook was eventually donated by inheritors – what’s highlighted versus hidden? These details greatly inform how future generations engage with the artist's legacy. Editor: This sketch reflects a larger question of accessibility and the artist’s hand within emerging visual and material cultures. I’ve never thought about sketchbooks in quite that way. Curator: Precisely, its public accessibility opens the artist’s labor and tools to analysis, beyond pure aesthetic judgment. Editor: A perspective shift.