Natural Studies II

Kirsten Ortwed is a sculptor who has created a number of important public sculptures in Scandinavia and Germany. Often abstract, her work is based on organic forms. She has also produced a large number of drawings, which are not so much studies for sculptures as they are parallel formal explorations in another medium. The series Natural Studies, to which this sheet belongs, was inspired by natural objects the artist picked up during walks in the forest. Their dried-out forms intrigued Ortwed, symbolizing death to her. The sensitive touch of these drawings, their great economy, and the evocative quality of the unidentified objects infuse the works with a sense of poetry that recalls Manet's small still-lifes of vegetables.