Studie af Jens Baggesen efter maleri på Frederiksborg 1930 - 1938

Niels Larsen Stevns made this study of Jens Baggesen after a painting at Frederiksborg. The sketch, rendered in graphite, presents a tangle of lines, capturing the sitter with an immediacy and rawness, while a series of annotations offer a glimpse into the artist’s thought process. What strikes me here is the dynamic interplay between form and language. The sketch itself—composed of restless, searching lines—doesn’t merely represent Baggesen, but rather embodies the very act of seeing and interpreting. Look closely, and you'll see that the annotations aren’t just descriptive; they’re integral to the artwork's structure. The act of writing and sketching blurs traditional boundaries of representation. It invites us to consider how meaning is constructed through a combination of visual and textual signs. The study therefore becomes a site where the instability of meaning is not a limitation but a generative force.