Studier af forskellige fuglearter 1864 - 1941

Editor: So, this is "Studies of different bird species" by Niels Larsen Stevns, made sometime between 1864 and 1941, using graphite and pencil on paper. It feels almost like a page ripped from a naturalist's sketchbook, kind of raw and immediate. What do you make of it? Curator: Raw and immediate – I love that! It does have this beautiful, almost breathless quality. I feel as if I'm peering over Stevns’ shoulder as he feverishly captures the essence of these little birds, perhaps they're flitting about too fast for a formal portrait. But to me it’s more than a study. It’s a visual poem about fleeting moments, a kind of avian haiku if you will. The imprecise lines, the erasure marks...it’s all part of the story, the feeling. What feeling do *you* get looking at the variety of avian studies laid out on the page? Editor: A sense of intimacy, maybe? Like I'm seeing something very private. But I am wondering how it's considered art when it looks so unfinished? Curator: Ah, but is anything truly "finished," especially art? Perhaps this is what the artist felt like conveying: The eternal chase of capturing beauty, forever sketching, erasing, beginning again. And aren't we all like that bird, just for a moment, striving? Plus, what if Stevns wanted to focus on movement, character... capturing only enough to make each bird recognisable, rather than anatomical perfection? Think of it like catching fireflies in a jar – the glow, not the bug, is the prize. Editor: So, its "unfinishedness" *is* the point. I didn't think of that. Curator: Precisely! And seeing how each element plays with the other. These pages whisper to me... What do they say to you now? Editor: Now I’m starting to see a lot of hidden qualities, the intimate glimpses that reveal so much more about how one man viewed and worked. It feels almost as important as a completely rendered picture. Curator: Exactly! That’s the lovely paradox, isn’t it? Sometimes the fragment reveals more than the whole. Thanks, that's given me a completely new lens through which to see Stevns.