Blank 1932 - 1935

Editor: This drawing on paper, aptly named "Blank" by Niels Larsen Stevns and dated between 1932 and 1935, presents… well, seemingly nothing at first glance. It is part of the collection at SMK. Its stark emptiness is striking, and makes me curious. How do you interpret this work in relation to its time? Curator: The “blankness” is precisely what compels us to consider its socio-historical context. The interwar period was rife with anxieties, economic instability, and a growing sense of unease leading up to the Second World War. This drawing might be viewed as a potent symbol of that uncertainty, reflecting the anxieties prevalent at the time, an active rejection. The paper becomes a space for reflection and resistance. Editor: Resistance? That’s not what I was expecting! How can emptiness resist anything? Curator: It's about resisting the expected, resisting prescribed narratives. Consider the rise of totalitarian regimes during this period, the suppression of individual thought and expression. An ostensibly "blank" page becomes a powerful statement—a space unclaimed by ideology, a space for individual contemplation in a world increasingly defined by collective control. What might the role of state-sponsored art be here, and the place for dissenting viewpoints? Editor: So, its lack of visible content is a commentary on the pressures artists felt at the time? Almost a subversive act by suggesting freedom to create outside institutional structures? Curator: Precisely. The museum houses this now; so the paradox is a rich opportunity to explore how our institutions transform art's function and meaning. Where does its authority truly reside? Editor: This changes everything. I’ll definitely look at other works from that period with a new understanding. Thank you for sharing this way of contextualizing “nothingness." Curator: It is a reciprocal endeavor; thanks for posing great questions which allow us both to reimagine familiar notions!