Studier af duer 1864 - 1941

This is a page from a sketchbook by Niels Larsen Stevns with studies of doves, it's hard to tell exactly when it was made. The marks here are so light, they barely register, like the faintest whisper of a thought. You can see the way he’s feeling out the form, not so much about capturing the thing itself, but more about understanding how the gesture flows. It’s kind of interesting how these almost invisible marks seem to float on the page, there is something so tender about the restraint here. Like Agnes Martin, Stevns creates a very intimate and personal space. It’s a space where the viewer is invited to participate in the act of seeing, to engage with the subtle nuances of line and form, to fill in the gaps with their own imagination. You get the sense that art, for Stevns, was an ongoing investigation, an embrace of ambiguity.