Studier af råger eller ravne 1864 - 1941

Curator: Well, hello there. Today, we're observing "Studier af råger eller ravne", translated to "Studies of Rooks or Ravens", by Niels Larsen Stevns, created sometime between 1864 and 1941. It’s currently held at the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. Editor: Oh, my! It feels like a fleeting thought captured in furious lines! The rawness of the sketch gives the ravens an almost… desperate energy. Curator: Exactly. Stevns employed pencil, ink, coloured pencil and watercolors to conjure these creatures on paper. Crows and Ravens in art carry quite the baggage across cultures—omens of death, symbols of intelligence, even messengers from the spirit world. The hasty lines hint, perhaps, that these were quickly jotted in the field. Editor: The way he’s used those frantic scribbles creates movement; you can almost hear their wings beating! I find myself wondering, what captured Stevns' attention so intensely? Curator: Perhaps it was a specific behavior? The dynamic lines, typical of sketches made in naturalism, aim to faithfully reproduce transient, yet true impressions from nature. Crows are incredibly intelligent, cunning even. Maybe Stevns saw something of humanity reflected in their actions. Editor: It's so spare. Yet that sparcity amplifies everything—the urgency, the wildness...I see a kinship here between artist and subject, a shared dance on the edge of things. Curator: A very interesting point. Remember that Stevns’ works show many Symbolist features; and one way or another, he had an interest in how line functions, often with almost caricatured intensity. Perhaps here the stark strokes are more important than detail and shading, an aesthetic rather than ornithological goal. Editor: What remains, finally, are more like traces, echoes of real crows. Looking at them reminds me that everything is a story of disappearing. Curator: Yes, just so. Perhaps that fleetingness, rendered with such raw energy, allows this little study to transcend its modest size, transforming into something resonant and haunting.