Prosadigt af kunstneren selv. F.n. et diagram med delvist ulæselige betegnelser, bl.a. "Stjerne" og "Sol" 1913 - 1914

Curator: Stepping closer, we see J.A. Jerichau's drawing from 1913-1914, currently held at the SMK – Statens Museum for Kunst. It's titled "Prosadigt af kunstneren selv. F.n. et diagram med delvist ulæselige betegnelser, bl.a. "Stjerne" og "Sol," a prose poem by the artist, featuring a diagram with partly unreadable notations like "Star" and "Sun." Made with ink on paper, it has the appearance of a notebook page. What leaps out at you? Editor: Overwhelmingly a sense of searching, perhaps even chaos! The dense script, scrawled across the page, gives a visual impression of a mind overflowing with ideas. The diagram at the bottom is especially curious; a contained symbol within the storm of words. Curator: Absolutely. The textual deluge, along with these enigmatic symbolic elements, are striking. To me, there's a palpable feeling of someone trying to map their internal landscape onto paper. It’s almost as if language and image are both failing to fully capture what they’re trying to express. Editor: It reads like a visual palimpsest, with layers of thought barely concealing what lies beneath. Those words, "Stjerne" and "Sol"—Star and Sun— hint at something elemental. Archetypal images suggesting universal forces. Curator: The references to Plato and Napoleon suggest the artist may also be wrestling with ideas of power, knowledge, and mortality. It could represent Jerichau contemplating his own position in relation to history, or even in relation to these celestial forces. Editor: Given that period, it makes me wonder if it reflects something deeper than mere intellectual pondering; could this be anxiety about societal upheavals and scientific breakthroughs which were dramatically changing the world-picture, mirroring chaos on both macro- and microcosmic scales? Curator: The partially illegible notes give the impression he’s thinking aloud, a mind grappling with large questions— and not quite finding answers. The circular diagram at the bottom is tantalizing. Even if it seems obscure, that sense of encoded meaning resonates through all this artist's diagrams. Editor: This glimpse into Jerichau's mind is deeply intimate. It’s a complex layering of written ideas and visual metaphor - an artistic gesture. A captivating document that captures, simultaneously, creative frustration, as well as wonderment. Curator: Indeed. We are fortunate to have this window into the thought process of the artist, even in such fragmentary form. It opens new questions each time I revisit it.