Skitser af vildsvin. Notat 1900 - 1905

Curator: This is Niels Larsen Stevns’s "Skitser af vildsvin. Notat," or "Sketches of Wild Boar. Note," created between 1900 and 1905. It's a pencil drawing on paper. Editor: My immediate impression is of raw energy! The lines are so frenetic, almost like the boars are vibrating with life. Curator: It's interesting to consider these studies within the broader context of wildlife representation at the turn of the century. What specific aspects resonate with you? Editor: The wild boar itself is an old symbol: courage, ferocity, provision. You can almost smell the earth and feel their bristly hides, but is Stevns using them in a conscious symbolical way? I'm curious about this 'note' mentioned in the title. Was it to evoke these symbols or capture fleeting studies of raw primal life? Curator: The notation in the drawing, specifying “American wild boar,” could reflect an interest in expanding beyond strictly European zoological subjects within Scandinavian artistic circles at the time. Remember this would reflect social patterns such as rising tourism. Editor: Hmm, so instead of relying solely on centuries of cultural associations of boars in, say, Danish or Norse traditions, it's referencing the New World’s. Did such boars already represent a symbolic departure by 1900? Curator: In 1900, a modern interest in wildlife might simply represent the rising social interest in the natural world at all, which became tied with emergent preservation movements. These sketched boars suggest a more nuanced interplay between artistic exploration and evolving perceptions of nature in Danish art. Editor: Interesting perspective! Seeing it as both documentary and imaginative work offers such a new framework. This gives the wild boar studies not only immediate energy, but it shows that art always echoes its surrounding cultures. Curator: It invites further exploration of what might at first look like just an impulsive collection of animal studies! Thanks for those thoughts.