Studie af gravsten 1932 - 1935

Curator: Here we have Niels Larsen Stevns' "Studie af gravsten," a pencil drawing dating from around 1932-1935, housed here at the SMK. The study is a geometric sketch of what seems to be an ornate grave stone. Editor: There's an appealing starkness to it, yet also an intriguing tenderness due to the soft lines. It seems so fleeting and simple but those twirls and curls suggest to me an interesting depth of artistic contemplation and the heaviness that death evokes. Curator: Precisely, it's a fascinating contrast. Stevns draws upon visual cues that date back to Medieval Europe, incorporating traditional patterns for communicating remembrance and spirituality. Note the cross surmounting an embellished stem—an immediate evocation of mourning, the death of Christ, or honoring the dead, even. Editor: It's fascinating how this visual language persists. You see that cross, yes, the symbol of the crucifixion – yet one can easily read this as the patriarchal violence inherent within it: how symbols continue to shape how we deal with the inevitable, with grief. The geometric ornamentation reminds me of carved Celtic designs; those spirals read as cyclical: how our history impacts even our mortality, and our continued desire for continuity or even a denial of it. Curator: Right! Geometric patterns also tap into cultural memory—in the past they were applied to assist those viewing a given image to access, to remember. These spirals become a trigger to access a larger understanding or framework of concepts. Editor: Looking closer, I see an incredible delicacy despite the boldness of the design itself. The unfinished sketch gives it this vulnerable, temporary quality... which honestly strikes a chord with me about our contemporary feelings about grief: How can our grief be as temporary as it needs to be without denying respect or mourning for that loss? Curator: A brilliant observation. The rawness heightens the overall effect, prompting deeper considerations. It is very typical that Stevns made lots of drawings throughout his practice. These small and perhaps fast captures are incredibly emotional. Editor: Indeed. I keep returning to that tension, between the fragility of a pencil sketch and the immutable symbol of a gravestone... I will keep thinking about that dichotomy for quite some time. Curator: As will I! The piece reveals how artists are perpetually in conversation with memory, culture, death, and symbolic forms from our visual past.