Scandinavia House in NYC Shows Early Modern Scandinavia Painting

Written by Geoffrey Shackleton Saturday, 26 May 2012 00:38

New York City.- Scandinavia House is proud to present "Luminous Modernism: Scandinavian Art Comes to America 1912", an international loan exhibition of paintings by Edvard Munch, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Anders Zorn, and other Scandinavian pioneers of modernism, opened October 25th at Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America. The exhibition, which remains on view through February 11th, 2012, brings together approximately 50 works by leading late 19th- and early 20th-century Nordic artists from more than 20 public and private collections in Europe and America. The last of three exhibitions presented by The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) in recognition of its centennial, Luminous Modernism revisits the landmark ASF sponsored exhibition of 1912 — a groundbreaking display of contemporary Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish painting that gave many in the USA, including emerging modern artists, their first introduction to Scandinavian art.  While "Luminous Modernism" features 20 of the same artists and eight of the same works presented in the 1912 exhibition, it has been expanded in scope to encompass all five Nordic countries, including Finland and Iceland, illustrating the richness of artistic expression throughout the region during this period.

Ranging from the visionary landscapes of Munch, Harald Sohlberg, and Akseli Gallen, to the intimate domestic interiors of Hammershøi and Harriet Backer, to depictions of rural life by Carl Larsson and Lauritz Andersen Ring, the exhibition reveals the varied and original ways Scandinavian artists responded to modernist innovations at home and abroad. The original 1912 Exhibition of Contemporary Scandinavian Art comprised 165 works by 45 leading Scandinavian artists of the day, making it the largest display to date of Nordic art in America. Following its New York City opening, the exhibition toured to museums in Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, and Toledo, attracting record crowds. A resounding critical and popular success, the event also played a significant — yet often overlooked — role in the development of North American modernism, including the work of Marsden Hartley and Canada’s Group of Seven. Indeed, the Scandinavian art exhibition helped to pave the way for the assimilation of European modernism in North America — and for the more radical offerings that the Armory Show would bring within two months of the ASF exhibition’s New York debut. Organized by nationality, Luminous Modernism represents the wide range of styles, subject matter, and aesthetic aims embraced by artists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden at the turn of the century — a period of artistic and social transformation in which Nordic painters, like artists elsewhere in Europe, sought to break away from the confines of academicism. Inevitably, many were drawn to the innovations of Symbolist, Impressionist, and Neo-Impressionist art, which they often studied first-hand on prolonged stays in Paris. Typically, however, foreign influences were filtered through and transformed by the culture and rich artistic traditions of their homelands.


The regional modernism of Scandinavia thus became a unique idiom within international developments in modern art. Central to much of this regional modernism was a fascination with the unique qualities of Scandinavian light. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of the great Danish modernist Vilhelm Hammershøi, whose silent, sun-filled domestic scenes, such as Interior of "Woman Placing Branches in Vase on Table" (1900), look back to 17th-century Dutch painting but also anticipate 20th-century explorations of abstraction. In contrast to Hammershøi’s urban focus, Ring celebrates the land and life of rural Denmark. "Harvest" (1886), a radiant pastel of the artist’s brother scything, owes much to the French peasant scenes of Jean-François Millet; while in "Fjord near Karrebæksminde" (1910), included in the original 1912 exhibition, Ring masterfully captures the vastness of Denmark’s coastal plains.  Paintings by the important Finnish Expressionist Akseli Gallen-Kallela include an evocative depiction of his wife watching a sunset from the Kuhmoniemi Bridge (1890). The daring palette of mauves and yellows and the simplification of forms recall the contemporary work of Munch, but without the same disquieting psychological overtones. Works by Ásgrímur Jónsson and Thórarinn Thorláksson, considered the founders of Icelandic landscape painting, concentrate on the distinctive light and rugged topography of their homeland. In Jónsson’s majestic Mt. Tindafjöll (1904), the glacial peaks of the famous natural landmark are dramatically illuminated by a breaking sky. Paintings by Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch, Scandinavia’s most celebrated modernist, include two works that explore his favored themes of sexual awakening and nature 4s a vital force: In Girl Under Apple Tree (1904) a primly dressed young girl stands before the writhing, intertwined branches of an apple tree—an obvious reference to original sin.


Munch’s Bathing Boys (1904–05) features a scene of nude adolescents on the beach, one of whom modestly tries to cover his nakedness. As this exhibition makes clear, however, Munch was by no means the only Norwegian artist of talent and vision during this period. In fellow Expressionist Harald Sohlberg’s Flower Meadow in the North (1905), a seemingly endless carpet of white daisies glows surreally in the twilight. The liberating influence of international vanguard art on Norwegian painters can be seen in works such as Harriet Backer’s Woman Sewing (1890), with its vibrant color and bold brushwork, and Ludvig Karsten’s Matisse-inspired "Still Life with a Hat". The latter, as well as Jean Heiberg’s "Nude Woman" (1912), which owes much to the palette and technique of Cézanne, and Henrik Lund’s Gauguinesque "Portrait of Hans Jæger" (1906), were all featured in the original 1912 exhibition. Turn-of-the-century Sweden also boasted a vibrant, sophisticated, and varied artistic life. Anders Zorn’s "Ida by the Window" (1908) exemplifies the exuberant yet precise brushwork that brought that artist international acclaim as a society portraitist and enabled him to begin his extensive career in the United States. Sweden’s landscape painters were particularly noted for their innovation and experimentation during this period. In Eugene Jansson’s "The Pier at Torekov" (c.1896), the moonlit forms of swirling clouds, sea, and land verge on pure abstraction. Works by Prince Eugen—son of King Oscar II of Sweden and a leader of the country’s artistic avant-garde—include "It Brightens Up After Rain" (1904), in which fading twilight reduces nature to delicately patterned silhouettes. By contrast, Carl Larsson’s charming and richly detailed watercolor "Now It’s Christmas Again" (1907) typifies the happy scenes of domestic life that made him one of Sweden’s most popular artists.

In 2000, the ASF opened Scandinavia House as its headquarters and the home for its cultural and educational programs, encompassing the visual arts, music, and literature, as well as business, finance, and technology. Offerings include exhibitions, films, concerts, readings, lectures, symposia, language courses, and children’s programming. Scandinavia House is located at 58 Park Avenue, at 38th Street, New York City. Visit the Scandinavia House website at ... www.scandinaviahouse.org

---

Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~