Skitser af køer. Udkast til monogram: SJ eller JS (Joakim Skovgaard) 1900 - 1905

Curator: This intriguing sketch, "Skitser af køer. Udkast til monogram: SJ eller JS (Joakim Skovgaard)", or "Sketches of Cows. Draft for monogram: SJ or JS (Joakim Skovgaard)", comes to us from Niels Larsen Stevns, dating from about 1900 to 1905. Editor: The immediacy of the piece is what strikes me first—the hurried lines capturing a subject seemingly caught in motion. You feel like you're peering over the artist's shoulder as he attempts to distill raw life onto a page. Curator: Precisely. Stevns’ choice of pencil on paper offers a direct conduit to his creative process. This piece isn't just a drawing, but a glimpse into his methodology. It feels almost ephemeral. Editor: And the sketchbook quality adds a layer. These aren’t formal studies meant for display. These are working sketches. The very grain of the paper shows the artist's hand and emphasizes the labor behind representation, moving beyond the artistic "genius". The materiality—the humble pencil and paper—belies the deeper purpose of observation. Curator: A purpose evident in his rapid, searching lines. He circles and defines, trying to find the essence of "cowness" in a few strokes. Editor: Do you think the monogram attempt above the animal's back adds any value beyond the literal letters? Does the presence of text on the same plane mean he saw language and animal life as an exercise with a single purpose? Curator: Intriguing thought! Maybe for Stevns, these disparate elements converged in the act of observation. Capturing the spirit of a cow, in essence, became as symbolic as imbuing the artist's signature on the land itself. Or maybe the animals themselves serve as their own letters, forming abstract ideas like fertility and growth in the farmlands he called home. Editor: Hmm... I hadn't considered it that way. Perhaps both the animals and language are just tools—objects. Either way, "Skitser af køer" provides an exciting, rare chance to study an artist in action. Curator: Absolutely, a dance between intention, representation, and materiality on paper, indeed. Editor: I think that captures its spirit—or should I say, its matter—perfectly.