To kvinder slås om en mand 1907

This is Oluf Hartmann's diminutive yet powerfully expressive etching, "Two Women Fight Over a Man," housed at the SMK. The composition is a chaotic yet carefully constructed arrangement of bodies. Hartmann uses stark contrasts of light and shadow to create a dramatic and unsettling effect. The figures are rendered with raw, almost crude lines, which adds to the sense of primal struggle. Consider how the figures are intertwined, their limbs and torsos creating a dense, impenetrable mass. The artist challenges traditional notions of beauty and harmony, instead focusing on the raw, visceral aspects of human emotion. The rough texture of the etching enhances this effect, giving the image a tactile quality. Hartmann is less interested in narrative, and more concerned with the formal elements of line, tone and composition. These elements combine to destabilize any conventional interpretation of love or desire, presenting us instead with a brutal display of human conflict.