Skitse af jolle 1905 - 1907

Curator: Niels Larsen Stevns created this pencil drawing on paper, titled "Skitse af jolle," sometime between 1905 and 1907. Editor: Oh, it's so delicate! It looks like something scribbled quickly in a notebook, full of light and air and…boats, I think? Curator: Yes, precisely. As the title suggests, this is a sketch—a preliminary study. Note the use of hatching and cross-hatching to denote shadow and form. Observe how Stevns uses line weight variation to suggest depth. It’s impressionistic in its capture of fleeting movement. Editor: I love that "fleeting movement" feeling. It really captures the moment, doesn’t it? It reminds me of summers by the coast, the smell of salt, the slight rocking of the boats... a feeling of calmness with that undertone of busy port activity. What do you think the artist might have been thinking, drawing this? Curator: Contextually, during this period, Stevns was moving away from pure Naturalism and toward a more Symbolist aesthetic. We can perhaps read the boat not merely as a boat but as a symbol of a journey, perhaps even a spiritual one. Editor: Oh, a spiritual journey! I hadn’t thought of it that way. But looking at it again, there's a certain... wistful quality to the sketch, a feeling of something more profound under the surface. Maybe even a longing. Curator: The composition itself invites this reading. The placement of the boat off-center creates a visual imbalance, a sense of yearning. Note too how the horizontal lines of the sketchbook page ground the more frenetic strokes of the boat itself. The grid against the gestural mark-making. Editor: That’s very well-observed. Yes, it is like an anchor, giving a rhythm to what would otherwise be too fast, maybe. I think, with you guiding me through this I get to feel the fresh sea air even more now... I just needed some time to adjust the sails... Thank you for helping me finding the wind and guiding my aesthetic voyage. Curator: You're very welcome. It has been a pleasure to analyse with you the materiality, depth and composition present in this evocative, but minimal sketch by Stevns.