Lyngblomst. Siddende nøgen lille pige 1923 - 1925

Curator: This is Just Sondrup's sculpture "Lyngblomst. Siddende nøgen lille pige," created sometime between 1923 and 1925. It is a marble sculpture. What are your initial impressions? Editor: Stark. The coolness of the marble against the subject… it projects a feeling of vulnerability, but also a strange sort of timelessness. The smoothness and stark white stone renders every muscle with clarity. Curator: Sondrup, despite working in the early 20th century, aligns himself quite consciously with classical-realism. He engages with themes surrounding innocence and vulnerability, particularly concerning childhood and its inherent precariousness within society's structures. Considering his status as a man, do you find the artistic exploration of this pre-pubescent child problematic? Editor: Problematizing that reading immediately, it’s the lines I keep coming back to – the curvature of her spine, the slightly elongated fingers – Sondrup is masterfully controlling how light plays across the surface. He focuses attention, leading my gaze through his choice of texture as the figure rests upon a more roughly formed plinth of stone. Curator: Sondrup situated this work, as he did with much of his work, to challenge social conventions in Denmark surrounding bodily representation, especially childhood sexuality, in an era of increased censorship and moral anxieties. What readings do you think this work invites now, especially knowing the location where it’s situated in Denmark's national collection of art? Editor: It still invites questions, doesn’t it? This dialogue between realism and idealization forces one to look more deeply, and maybe even confront the ways we impose our expectations onto what we see. It's so smooth and graceful, the human form is a perfect vehicle to create formal relationships that explore line and light. Curator: Absolutely. It highlights the contradictions inherent in representation, isn't it? It highlights how our historical perspectives are filtered through lenses of power and ideology, and in seeing this work in a collection is not simply a viewing experience but rather a re-experiencing and re-examining a set of social mores, historical precedents. Editor: Indeed. By stripping away color and detail, the artist compels us to focus on these more essential formal components. In that reduction is clarity.