Studie af bordben 1881

Editor: This is Niels Larsen Stevns’s pencil drawing, "Studie af bordben," from 1881. I am struck by the intense, almost grotesque expression of the carved figure, yet the overall sketch is so delicate and tentative. What catches your eye in this study? Curator: The quiet audacity, perhaps? He’s capturing, with such fragile lines, something solid, something…pretentious! It’s just a leg, for goodness’ sake, yet it carries all this baggage of rococo excess. Have you ever sketched something so utterly mundane, but then been seduced by the hidden stories within its form? Editor: Not like that! The face almost feels like it's mocking its own grandeur, or maybe the idea of luxury itself? Curator: Exactly! And think about the act of sketching itself back then – a student honing their skills, dutifully copying… but Stevns gives us something more. He teases out a personality, a secret life, within the inanimate object. He whispers, “Look closer, there's more than meets the eye!". Do you feel like this unlocks anything new? Editor: Yes, definitely. I hadn't considered that interplay between seriousness and humor. I think this sketch encourages you to really investigate, not just to look. Curator: Indeed! It is in that humble pencil line, so thin you might miss it, that the story truly begins. Art can do this to a table leg and, just maybe, to ourselves. Editor: I love that thought. This sketch feels a lot less mundane and a lot more interesting than I initially thought!