To bedehuse 1869

Editor: This is P.C. Skovgaard’s 1869 pencil drawing, "To bedehuse," housed at the SMK. It's delicate, almost ethereal in its rendering. What do you see in the way Skovgaard chose to depict these small houses or shrines? Curator: I'm struck by the choice of pencil. It emphasizes the drawing’s nature as a preliminary study, highlighting the artist's process. The sketch seems to explore the architectural structures themselves. Was the function and labor associated with the ‘bedehuse’ also on Skovgaard's mind? Editor: I hadn't considered the "labor" aspect. The style appears Realist but the pencil lines seems so simplified that, combined with their dilapidated appearance, you almost get a ghostly representation. Curator: Exactly. The realism here isn't just about representing a scene accurately. It is how the materials and means of production affect our perception. He gives us ruins – are they symbols of Denmark's relationship with consumption and national identity at the time? Are the materials, so humble, hinting to that effect? Editor: That's a good question. How does the humble pencil drawing depart from other landscape art practices at the time? Curator: Often, the final artwork is what is promoted – a sort of commodity-whereas this drawing is stripped bare, and brings into focus both the fragility of architecture and of the artistic process itself. We are closer to the raw materials of art-making. Editor: I can see how that shift in focus changes the entire experience. Focusing on materiality and the conditions of making the work has broadened my view of Skovgaard’s artistic output! Curator: Mine, too. Looking at the image, now I wonder about how that changes when we consider other ways of art being constructed by labor and means of production!