Illustration til H. C. Andersen: "Stormen flytter skilt" 1864 - 1944

Henrik Sørensen created this black and white illustration for Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Storm Moves the Sign” using an unknown method, with the original residing at the SMK in Copenhagen. The piece is almost monochromatic, an exercise in grey scale. Close up, you can see the artist’s hand in the myriad of marks. The texture isn't about a build up of material, but a careful building up of line. It is almost entirely rendered through these marks, not just the form of the figures but the wind itself, which is given shape and volume through the artist's process. The cloud-like figure is not just something being represented, but a testament to the artists process. Overall, it reminds me a little of Aubrey Beardsley, where the line has a life of its own, and the figures, or the story, are secondary to the joy and the movement that is conjured by the mark itself.