Tegning af Anna Larsen Stevns ? 1933 - 1934

This drawing of Anna Larsen Stevns was made by Niels Larsen Stevns, we don’t know when, in graphite pencil on paper. There is a tentative quality to this drawing, as if Stevns is thinking through form on the page; the drawing feels like the artist working something out, and that is part of its charm. The marks are simple and direct, but the cumulative effect is to create a feeling of depth and space. We don’t need to know that the marks are tiny rowboats and figures to understand this feeling. The quality of the line is consistent throughout, a thin, wiry line that never varies in tone or weight. The drawing is activated by the energy of the artist's touch, but held together by the paper, the paper of the notebook. Like, Agnes Martin, he understood the power of working within self-imposed limits, finding freedom within restriction. There is a lot of beauty to be found in this drawing, if you are ready to look for it.