Settle-table c. 1936

This drawing of a ‘Settle-table’ was made by B. Holst-Grubbe. It’s all lines and numbers and the kind of thing you might find in an engineering textbook. But it's also kind of beautiful. The artist's hand, wielding a precise technical pen, reveals the inner workings of the piece. I love how Holst-Grubbe combines the objective with the subjective. The red ink of the measurements clashes satisfyingly with the brown ink. You get a sense of the human behind the drawing. Look at the confidence in the lines, the way they intersect and define the form. It reminds me that art, even in its most technical forms, is still a conversation. Holst-Grubbe’s drawing is a reminder that art embraces the messy, the ambiguous, and the multiple.