Skitser til maleri af W.A. Müller, Kunstakademiet. 1746 - 1828

Curator: Here we have C.A. Lorentzen's "Skitser til maleri af W.A. Müller, Kunstakademiet", created between 1746 and 1828. It's a pencil drawing. Editor: A study in concentration, it feels like glimpsing the inner workings of the academy. So fleeting, so intimate! These nascent forms hint at potential—yet also reveal an inherent fragility. Curator: Fragility? It speaks to the rigorous academic training that artists like Müller would have undertaken. Each sketch is a step, almost a dance with tradition, working toward mastery of form. Editor: I see that, of course, but isn't there something melancholic here too? This obsessive repetition… It suggests not only tradition, but also the constraints of tradition and expectation. I wonder what kinds of narratives might get erased during the making of history. Curator: Hmm. Perhaps. Though I tend to view them as exercises, preparations... building blocks for something more. Lorentzen capturing those fleeting gestures. I am intrigued by how these individual studies on the paper form a collective. Editor: It reminds me how education is always social: How, from a feminist perspective, learning and doing are so linked with gendered, raced and classed encounters in social institutions. Curator: True, and these pencil sketches don't really declare much individuality, they capture human figures from this time. Editor: Still, even in the relative anonymity of pencil sketches, stories shimmer. Don't you see it? These anonymous sitters may also testify the experience of alienation within a very classist and patriarchial environment. Curator: An interesting view! They definitely now look somewhat trapped in these tiny boxes. Editor: Exactly. They echo today, don't they, trapped figures? Curator: I see it now... Thank you! Editor: Always a pleasure!