Studier af ornamenter og arkitektoniske detaljer. Notat 1919

This page of studies of architectural details was sketched by Niels Larsen Stevns, probably en plein air, directly from the motif with just a pencil. I really enjoy looking at artists’ sketchbooks. In this notebook page, I can feel the hand of the artist as he is trying to grasp something, looking carefully at ornament and architectural details. It's like he is thinking through drawing. I imagine him outside, maybe sitting on a park bench, squinting to really see the way the light hits the carvings. I can sense him, searching for the right lines to express volume and depth. Each mark he makes becomes a record of his looking, of his attempt to understand. I see this page as a conversation with form and space, a silent dialogue between the artist and the architecture. I like the idea of Stevns in conversation with the past, finding inspiration in the work of others. It makes me consider how we're all part of a continuum of artists speaking to each other across time.