Figurstudie til maleriet "Maria salver Kristi fødder", 1907. Apostel nr. 3 t.h. i billedet 1905 - 1906

Curator: Niels Larsen Stevns created this drawing, titled "Figure Study for the Painting 'Mary Anoints Christ's Feet', 1907. Apostle No. 3 on the Right in the Picture" between 1905 and 1906. What's your first impression? Editor: Raw, almost brutal in its honesty. Look at the economical use of line, how the pencil just *scratches* the paper. I immediately sense the weight and labor implied. Curator: It is intriguing to witness the artist’s process, to be granted a glimpse into the making of a painting through such preliminary sketches. It feels so intimate, as if one is peering over the artist's shoulder. Editor: Absolutely. And consider the paper itself – its probable source, its processing. It isn't precious; it’s a working material, a support for testing ideas, bearing witness to labor. Curator: It's as though Stevns sought to capture the very essence of his subject, the posture, and perhaps the inner spirit of the Apostle, even at this early stage. One feels a pensive quietude emanating from this quickly rendered, almost ethereal, study. Editor: Note too that the medium informs the message. Pencil – easily erased, easily amended – suggesting the instability of faith, perhaps? Curator: That's an interesting perspective. The impermanence of the medium reflecting a questioning of faith. The fact that it is part of a larger composition, allows you to extrapolate meanings that would be muted when standing alone. It becomes a piece of a grand puzzle. Editor: Precisely! The means of production here highlight how much art-making relies on those provisional, practical supports – paper, pencil – which, themselves, have histories rooted in industry and consumption. What gets discarded matters. Curator: A powerful reminder that even within a religious narrative, the materiality and the making process offers yet another avenue to engage and enrich our experience of art. Editor: Agreed. Seeing art through its process, opens an appreciation for both the maker's ingenuity and all those often overlooked materials involved in their work.