Frugter 1911

J.A. Jerichau (II) made this lovely pencil sketch, 'Frugter' at an unknown date, but it lives at the SMK. The thing I love about drawings like this, is that you can really see the artist working things out. Look at the way the lines build up on the tomatoes, they create the form with lots of quick, energetic marks, like the artist is feeling their way around the object. The graphite is so soft, and the pressure applied to the pencil varies so much that you can almost feel the artist at work. See how they haven't laboured over the plant stem or flowers, giving them only a few lines. These tomatoes are almost bursting with life, full of texture and detail, and the plant above is just a suggestion, a reminder that things are still growing. This piece reminds me of Morandi, but with a playful, sketch-book quality. There is a beautiful honesty in this work; a captured moment, a process of discovery.