Figurskitser 1900 - 1904

Niels Larsen Stevns made this sketchbook page of figure studies with pencil, though it's not dated. It’s all about the kind of looking where you just let your hand wander around the page, feeling its texture while the figures begin to emerge. See how the figures are built up with layers of soft, smudgy lines, almost like he’s feeling them out. The lines aren’t precious, they’re searching, trying to capture the essence of a gesture. I love the way he’s not afraid to let lines trail off, to leave things unresolved. There's something intimate about these little sketches that reminds me of the early expressionism of someone like Kirchner. It’s like a private conversation between the artist, the paper, and the subject, leaving us with a sense of openness rather than resolution.