To Barnehoveder 1848 - 1907

Editor: This is "To Barnehoveder," which I understand translates to "Two Children's Heads," by Oscar Andersen, likely made between 1848 and 1907. It's a drawing, possibly a print too, just pencil on paper, a small-scale portrait in a realist style. The image makes me think of old family photographs; it’s very intimate. What do you see when you look at it? Curator: The visual vocabulary here – the softness of the pencil, the depiction of children asleep – pulls on something very deep in our cultural memory. Sleep, especially the sleep of infants, has long been symbolically linked with purity, innocence, a return to origins. Andersen’s choice to render this in pencil, a seemingly simple medium, amplifies this feeling, doesn't it? Editor: It does. I also get a sense of vulnerability because they are sleeping. Curator: Precisely! It's a tender but potent image. The use of pencil contributes to its directness. Pencils are of course for preliminary sketches but these feel more formal; what does the visual record of an 'ordinary' child, recorded for posterity suggest to you? Is it about legacy and familial lineage? Editor: I hadn’t considered that aspect before, but you're right. The way they’re rendered does elevate them. Maybe it speaks to how every parent views their child, regardless of social status, like each is extraordinary. Curator: An intriguing interpretation! Consider, too, that sleep can also represent a kind of unknowing. The children are at rest, but we, the viewers, are awake, looking at them. There is that sense of mystery – we're watching over them but also excluded from their world. How can an ordinary pencil sketch offer such depth, connecting individual, personal experience with wider cultural narratives? Editor: It's incredible how such a simple medium, used with this kind of sensitivity, carries such emotional weight. I definitely see so much more in this piece now. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure, thinking about imagery in a long span of time allows for us to connect to history in potent ways!