Studier af hjorte 1896

This is a page of deer studies by Niels Larsen Stevns, made with pencil on paper. At first glance, the composition appears simple, almost sparse, featuring several deer sketched in various poses against the bare paper. The artist's lines are delicate and tentative, capturing the essence of the animals with minimal detail. There is an overriding sense of capturing the deer in their natural habitat. Stevns uses line and form to destabilize the conventional portrait of the deer. The sketches are fragmented, almost ghostly, in their presence. The lack of background emphasizes the deer themselves, turning them into signs within the pictorial field, inviting us to reflect on the relationship between nature and representation, presence and absence. This interplay challenges fixed meanings, inviting ongoing interpretation.