Studietegning til statuetten "Kvinde som sætter sit hår" 1928

Editor: Here we have Svend Rathsack's 1928 pencil drawing, "Study for the statuette 'Woman Arranging Her Hair'". It's a delicate sketch, very light and airy. I'm curious about what stands out to you. How do you interpret this work? Curator: This piece offers insight into the academic art training of the period and the institutional expectations for representing the female nude. Note how the idealized form adheres to classical proportions, reflecting the enduring influence of the academy. But, what about the sketch appeals or maybe even unsettles you? Editor: It's definitely idealised, yet the sketchiness makes it feel… vulnerable, less about an objectified ideal. The roughness undermines the idea of the 'perfect' female form somehow. Curator: Precisely! And consider the period - the late 1920s. While on one hand, we see this harking back to classical forms encouraged and enforced by academic institutions, we might also interpret it as a subtle shift in representation. What kind of tensions and debates were present at the time about depictions of the female nude within the broader artistic and societal context? Editor: I can only imagine that there was a big discussion. Some of the artistic movements like cubism felt they were on the way out, whereas others that still took academic style as the model were the order of the day. I guess these tensions are what really make an image alive and timeless. Curator: I fully agree. Exploring those very tensions between artistic traditions and the avant-garde offers a richer understanding of this seemingly simple drawing.