Udkast til Poul S. Christiansens gravmæle, notat 1932 - 1935

Curator: This is Niels Larsen Stevns' "Udkast til Poul S. Christiansens gravmæle, notat," a sketch for a gravestone, dating from 1932 to 1935. It’s rendered in graphite on paper. Editor: It feels so preliminary, raw, even. It makes me think about impermanence and the rough edges of memory. The geometric shapes are quite stark. Curator: It’s interesting you mention memory because funerary art, like the gravestone Stevns was designing, often acts as a symbolic anchor, grounding individual remembrance in tangible form and carrying layers of meaning. Do you see particular symbolic elements in the drawing? Editor: The repeated vertical marks above the central form seem to suggest figures or a crowd of mourners, which strikes me as quite universal. Yet the broken geometry feels quite modern, clashing against more classical funerary traditions. Curator: You are right, that it's modern. I also consider this artwork as speaking to this transition of Neoclassical monuments turning towards Modernism and the stark aesthetic principles that stripped them of ornamentation and allegorical detail. Even this sketch, preliminary, reveals the search for new languages of expressing respect and sorrow. Editor: And how different approaches reflect differing beliefs about death itself and how it is communally addressed, both of the person and society. Perhaps the clean geometric shapes here reflect a leaning toward humanist beliefs that arose as a result of social change and war during this period? It also does carry some elements of classicism. Curator: Precisely! And Larsen Stevns had extensive exposure to classicism and biblical tales that also influenced his artistic identity and symbolist understanding of motifs and their role in cultural and social meaning making. Editor: Ultimately, this seemingly simple sketch encapsulates broader shifts in how we memorialize, engaging with classical and contemporary modes of commemoration. Curator: Yes, by situating this design in that broader tradition, it grants such rich appreciation. It allows the viewer a quiet moment to engage in thinking around both of those cultural meanings while offering an intimate peak into an artist’s work.