Blank 1864 - 1941

Editor: We're looking at *Blank,* by Niels Larsen Stevns, made sometime between 1864 and 1941. It's a drawing, likely a portrait study, rendered with watercolor and pastel on paper. To be honest, it looks like nothing at all! What do you see in it? Curator: Ah, yes. *Blank.* What a curious title! Perhaps Stevns felt… stuck? Or, being deeply personal as I tend to be, maybe he was playing with the idea of potential? An untouched canvas bursting with what *could* be? The ghost of a figure seems to float in the paper, a spectral presence. Makes you wonder what he meant to capture but never truly did, doesn't it? A face, a feeling, a fragment of thought forever lingering... just out of reach. What does it whisper to *you*? Editor: I guess I was too literal! I was stuck on what wasn't there, not what *could* be. It's strange to consider this the essence of a portrait – a kind of un-portrait! Curator: Precisely! Art isn't just about what's *on* the surface, darling, it's about the void in between, the echoes that resonate in the quiet spaces. Editor: I'll definitely look at unfinished works differently from now on. It’s all about potential. Curator: Indeed. And the courage to face the blankness, knowing something extraordinary might just emerge. Now that's inspiring.