Teksten, uddrag af lovbestemmelserne om skudmålsbøger 1864 - 1941

Curator: This is Niels Larsen Stevns' "Teksten, uddrag af lovbestemmelserne om skudmålsbøger," a drawing rendered on paper, completed sometime between 1864 and 1941. It's held at the SMK, Statens Museum for Kunst. Editor: Immediately striking is the dominance of text. The color is muted—almost sepia-toned—suggesting age and perhaps the stark nature of its legal contents. The open book format invites you to decipher its meanings, while a sketch peers from behind, out of focus. Curator: Absolutely, the focus here directs us to the 'skudsmålsbøger,' or 'character books.' These books served as early forms of identification and employment records for domestic servants in Denmark. This drawing presents the extracted legal texts related to their usage. Consider the social power dynamic inherent in needing a formal document to prove one’s worth and suitability for work. Editor: The textural contrast adds another layer, right? The smooth paper of the printed pages juxtaposed with what appears to be a roughly-textured binding. There’s something cold and bureaucratic about the rigid columns of text, very different from the expressive potential of the coloured pencil work elsewhere. Curator: The coldness stems from its intent. The work brings into focus legal control over a workforce, detailing how servants needed official documentation, sealed and titled by authorities. These regulations are reflections of a stratified society—it is more about social control and labour governance during the period of agricultural reforms than an aesthetic gesture. Editor: Looking closely, you can just make out that the hidden drawing seems like people moving and the loose hatching technique suggests figures in motion... Perhaps symbolic of how they're kept out of reach, marginalized by society. Curator: That's a good eye. It speaks to the complexities Stevns captured within this drawing, revealing the lives lived under the weight of such regulations, whilst subtly including a different reality within its very layers. Editor: Overall, a potent and insightful pairing of form and context to illuminate a time capsule of societal laws and constraints. Curator: Precisely. Stevns' piece provides us a sharp lens through which to examine issues of social mobility, legal structures, and their impacts on everyday life during that time.