Uidentificeret dyrestudie 1864 - 1941

This is an animal study by Niels Larsen Stevns, and looking at the texture of the page, the support for the sketch might have been made from paper. Here the gesture is so light it barely registers, and yet there's something incredibly forceful about it. It's a drawing of something that the artist had seen, but not really committed to recording, it's more like he was trying to fix it in his mind. I guess what I mean is, it’s a trace of something real. It is very ghostly and ephemeral, like a memory that is fading away. I'm reminded of Cy Twombly's scribbled drawings, although Larsen Stevns's work feels more anchored in observation. Both artists, though, share an interest in the art-making process, so instead of an attempt to make a perfect likeness, we can see the artist experimenting with form and line. In the end, art doesn't have to give us all the answers; sometimes, it's more interesting to ask questions.