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National Gallery to Show First Monographic Exhibition of Paintings by Christen Kobke |
| February 6th, 2010 01:35:04 am |
LONDON.- 'Christen Kbke: Danish Master of Light' is the first monographic exhibition of paintings by Christen Kbke (18101848) ever to be shown outside Denmark. Kbke is arguably one of the greatest talents of Denmarks Golden Age, yet a solo exhibition of his work outside his homeland has eluded him until now. This show will comprise 48 of Kbkes most beautiful and distinguished works spanning a variety of genres: landscape, topography, portraiture and his charmingly oblique depictions of national monuments informed by a decidedly avant-garde sensibility.
They present some of the most innovative aspects of his work including outdoor sketching, his fascination with painterly immediacy and his unique treatment of light and atmosphere.
Scenes include those of his home town, Copenhagen (The Northern Drawbridge to the Citadel in Copenhagen, 1837, National Gallery, London); portraits of many of his family and closest friends ('Portrait of the Artists Mother, Cecilia Margrete Kbke', 1836, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen); detailed representations of fellow artists ('Portrait of the Landscape Painter Frederik Sdring', 1832, The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen) and of Danish national monuments ('Frederiksborg Castle View Near the Mntbro Bridge', 1835, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen)
Denmarks Golden Age the term used to describe the amazing diversity of intellectual, scientific and cultural achievements of the first half of the 19th century was nevertheless a time of social inequality and economic collapse as the nation was declared bankrupt in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars. Yet Denmark recovered with remarkable swiftness and creative endeavour to produce in its art defining images of a peaceful, innocent, ordered society.
Painters such as Kbke reflected this renewal of national pride, depicting their lives and reflecting their surroundings through their art. Kbkes work demonstrates his ability to endow ordinary people, places and simple motifs with a universal significance, creating a world in microcosm for the viewer ('Cigar Seller at the Northern Exit from the Citadel', Muse du Louvre, Paris).
Kbke never strayed far from his home city. He left Denmark for only one brief period between 1838 and 1840, reluctantly making the obligatory artists pilgrimage to Italy and painting scenes such as Castel dell'Uovo in Naples, (1838, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen). Kbke found his inspiration more readily in Copenhagen painting his immediate surroundings, almost all of which were within the fortified walls of the Danish capital ('View from Citadel Ramparts Towards Langelinie and the Naval Harbour', Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen).
The Golden Age has become known as the age of Kbke and his precise and clear-cut manner, sharp focus and pristine light are now synonymous with our image of this time of unsurpassed creative flowering.
Christen Kbke: Danish Master of Light is organised with the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, where it will follow from 5 July until 3 October 2010. |
Source Reference
http://www.artknowledgenews.com/2010-02-05-22-02-33-national-gallery-to-show-first-monographic-exhibition-of-paintings-by-christen-kobke.html |
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