The Dryad 1918

Curator: We're standing before "The Dryad" crafted in 1918 by Niels Hansen Jacobsen. This sculpture, rendered in bronze, currently resides here at the SMK. Editor: The bronze gives it this shadowed, almost melancholic affect. She looks so vulnerable. Her form echoes the shapes of the tree; there’s this sense of emerging. Curator: Absolutely. Jacobsen was working within a Symbolist framework at this time, engaging with Art Nouveau's decorative elements. What's striking is his return to the nude form to explore the connections between humans and nature. The figure is a classical subject brought to life through an engagement with modern sculptural processes. Bronze, with its inherent materiality, provides a direct connection to the industrial and technological changes happening in Denmark at this time. Editor: But look at the composition. Her arms are crossed, hands on her chest, directing our gaze, like a sort of echo, to her upturned face. There's a tension created by the slight contrapposto—one leg bent, the other bearing weight, suggesting both rootedness and a desire for something more. And what does her gaze signify? Longing? Curator: That’s insightful. Symbolism, in particular, placed immense value on expressing inner states of mind through outward visual forms. It is the visual language that emphasizes an introspective reading, rather than any material function. Hansen, trained as a stonemason, also infuses his own social conscience into the act of its making. In an increasingly industrialised Europe, he brings to the forefront an almost pastoral ideal. Editor: There is an intriguing tactile quality achieved here as well, though perhaps limited through the use of bronze. Curator: An excellent point. So, through an emphasis on materials, labour and his engagement with classical ideals, Hansen produces a potent statement on not only the artistic traditions of the era but also the rapid industrial development taking place across the world. Editor: I leave with a feeling of the dryad being eternally suspended between the earth and something…beyond. It’s thought-provoking how he combines raw vulnerability and an almost serene resignation in this figure.