Studier af mesopotamiske hoveder 1919

Niels Larsen Stevns made this drawing, *Studier af mesopotamiske hoveder*, with pencil on paper. Look at the surface – you can almost feel the scratch of the pencil, right? It’s all about the process, the artist figuring things out right in front of us. These aren't smooth, polished portraits; they are raw studies. It feels like Stevns is wrestling with form, trying to capture something essential about these ancient heads with quick, searching lines. Notice the density of marks, especially around the eyes and mouths. It’s like he’s digging into the paper, trying to unearth the character hidden within the stone. Think of someone like Guston, who also embraced the rough and ready. There’s something honest and vulnerable in this kind of artmaking, a willingness to show the struggle and the searching rather than presenting a perfect, finished product. And isn’t that closer to how we experience the world anyway?