Naa! Hvorledes gaar det... 1928

Fritz Syberg made this line drawing, "Naa! Hvorledes gaar det…," with pen on paper. Imagine the artist with their pen, scratching onto the surface, building up the image line by line, hatching and cross-hatching to build up the scene. I sympathize with Syberg here. There is something so wonderfully simple about the process of image-making through drawing, a direct transfer between eye, mind, and hand. I love the density of the reeds in the foreground, contrasting with the open water where the ducks swim. Notice how Syberg varies the marks to differentiate between elements – the soft, scribbled clouds versus the sharp, vertical reeds. The inscription gives the drawing meaning beyond the image, but the text can also be seen as pure gesture. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, aren’t they? Exchanging ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Syberg gives us a glimpse of his inner world. And, as viewers, we can see something of ourselves in his marks.