The Daily Valdemar No. 12: March 24
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| Valdemar Andersen, Juliane Marie Andersen. Private collection. |
Valdemar Andersen caught the moment on paper seeing his wife Juliane Marie in a striking pose. He would often do so over the years of their marriage, which from all sides was described as a very happy one. She was his inspiration at hand and many sketches are still in existence in which she has obviously been asked to keep that pose for a minute, while he grabbed pen and paper. In this instance her body creates a cross, with forceful outward lines that returns back inward; a movement that accentuates her being centered in herself. Her cascading hair and floating dressing gown feature the calm of her core.
This one is a private sketch although he signed it. He may have gifted it to her.
Every line is drawn with love and the sum of the lines does not manifest a model before us, but a personality. He has caught her presence. She owns herself. She is a modern woman owning whom she is, with one leg crossed over the other to demarcate her boundaries. Many of Valdemar's best-known works featuring a woman figure bear her profile and it is each time a characterization of the strong, emancipated woman. This is how he saw her.
