Lammet lovprises 1933 - 1934

Niels Larsen Stevns made this energetic drawing in pen and ink, probably in his sketchbook. It's all about process, the speed and urgency of the marks. The lines are all exposed, nothing hidden, no attempt to make it look like reality. Looking at the drawing, I keep thinking about the relationship between the top and bottom halves. At the top, a figure sits in judgment, maybe, perched above the crowd on a kind of thrown. Below, the marks feel chaotic, a mess of people, or maybe just the idea of people. The pen work is rough, immediate, like he’s trying to capture something fleeting. It makes me think of Goya, especially his etchings, that same feeling of social commentary mixed with the grotesque. Art is a conversation, right? We take what came before, and we mess with it, push it, and hopefully, make something new. It's not about answers; it's about asking the questions in a way that makes you think.