Studier af roser 1930 - 1936

Niels Larsen Stevns made these studies of roses with graphite on paper, a quiet moment of observation. I imagine him outside, sketchbook in hand, drawn to the delicate forms of the roses, trying to capture their essence with simple lines. It's like he's talking to himself, figuring out the way the petals curl and unfurl. You can almost feel the scratch of the pencil on the page, the artist's hand moving swiftly, trying to keep up with the fleeting beauty of the flowers. The drawing is economical, reduced, it expresses so much with so little. Think of other artists who have studied flowers, like Georgia O’Keeffe, each with their own way of seeing and interpreting nature. Each artist is in dialogue with one another, generations reaching across time. What can we learn about seeing the world from their focused attention to the natural world? And, what can they teach us about how we look, draw, and interpret the world today?