I was thrilled to learn a
few months ago that Scandinavia House would be hosting an exhibition of the
paintings of Vilhelm Hammershøi, one of my favorite painters whose works are
rarely seen firsthand in America. Hammershøi is one of those rare artists whose
work you either love or hate, the admirers and despisers citing the same
attributes to support their respective opinions. Hammershøi definitely doesn’t fit any mold,
his oeuvre refuses to be defined by any specific time period, his approach, though
blatantly unaffected by revolutionary trends within Europe’s artistic
community, seems strangely modern today.
If you are unfamiliar with the work of this Danish master, I hope to
provide a reasonable introduction here.
Vilhelm Hammershøi was born
in Copenhagen
in 1864. His father was a successful
merchant, so he grew up in fairly prosperous circumstances, his family able to
provide art lessons for him from an early age.
He studied independently with a number of painters including the
talented Norwegian, P.S. Kroyer, and also attended the Royal Danish
Academy of Fine Arts for
formal training.
Hammershøi’s life appears to
have been delightfully mundane, exhibiting none of the turmoil and drama we
normally associate with an artist’s existence.
After completing his studies, he painted a number of successful works
featuring his sister, Anna, and was accepted for the Charlottenborg Spring
Exhibition in 1885. In 1891, he married
Ida Ilsted, the sister of a close friend and colleague, and she became his
predominant model for the remainder of his life. His work enjoyed critical acclaim and
provided him a reliable income. Artists
and intellectuals visited Hammershøi, often finding him shy and retiring. He remained rooted in his native Copenhagen, living
principally in just two locations which he documented thoroughly in his
work. Hammershøi died in 1916 at the age
of 51.
Hammershøi
explored relatively few motifs throughout his career. He painted landscapes, particularly the
austere environs on the outskirts of Copenhagen.
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - From Refsnaes - 1900 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Landscape from Lejre - 1905 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Landscape from Virum near Fredericksdal, Summer - 1888 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Rainy Summer Landscape from Virum near Fredericksdal - date unavailable |
He was also interested in
architectural details in urban settings: the façades of buildings, constricted
courtyards, unpopulated streets, a glimpse of the sea between structures.
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - From the British Museum, Winter -1906 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Interior of Courtyard, Strandgade -1899 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Strandgade with Christians Kirke in the Background - 1908 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - The Royal Palace Church in Copenhagen - 1910 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - View of the Old Asiatic Company - 1902 |
By far, the motif that
dominates his mature oeuvre is that of a lone female figure set in an intimate
interior space, most commonly with her back turned to the viewer.
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - A Woman Reading by a Window - date unavailable |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Interior with Ida in a White Chair - 1900 |
Early on he used his sister
as his model, but, once he married, his wife, Ida, almost exclusively populates
his carefully documented interiors.
Hammershøi and his wife lived in two locations throughout their
marriage, and the artist repeatedly and painstakingly documented their living
quarters: the polished wooden floors, the heavy molding framing each doorway,
the cool tentative light that drizzles through the thick windowpanes, the dark,
hidden recesses glimpsed down hallways or through partially open doorways, the
familiar furniture which appears again and again in his various paintings.
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Drawing Room - The Four Copper Prints - 1905 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Interior in Strandgade - date unavailable |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Interior with Two Candles - 1904 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Interior, Sunlight on the Floor - 1906 |
It shouldn’t come as a
surprise that Hammershøi was a great admirer of the paintings of Vermeer and
Whistler. There are many striking
similarities between his work and theirs: muted tonalities, a focus on
carefully arranged compositions and a sensitivity to atmosphere and light.
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| Johannes Vermeer - The Milkmaid - 1658c |
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| James Whistler - Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 - 1871 |
Whistler, as a portrait
painter, arrived at two essential innovations: he made the perfection of the
overall composition his supreme concern and he used brushwork organically,
almost matter-of-factly, as determined by his subject matter. Vermeer presents a vignette, catching an
instant in time that is in flux and will never happen again. Hammershøi brings something new to the
equation. There is a sense that time is
standing still, that this same moment could be experienced again in a week or
even a year into the future. Perhaps
this strange suspension of time is what gives Hammershøi’s work its surreal
quality. His paintings still seem fresh
and contemporary over a century after their creation.
I wonder why these paintings
of lone women inhabiting dimly lit interior spaces are so appealing and so evocative. The woman is usually
conservatively attired in a dark, fairly plain dress, her hair pulled back and
neatly arranged in a knot at the back of the head and her face turned away from
the viewer. There is nothing opulent
about the woman. A simple comb holds her
braid in place. She wears little or no
jewelry. Her dress is utilitarian. The space she occupies is equally
unexceptional, neat, clean and sparsely furnished. Very few luxuries intrude on this Spartan
lifestyle. A carefully maintained spinet,
perhaps a family heirloom, is featured in several paintings. Glossy tabletops bear a silver candlestick
holder or a few pieces of fine china. A
book perused in quiet contemplation is a rare indulgence. The world depicted is thoroughly middleclass,
an aura of restrained conservatism emanates from these intimate scenes.
I think comparing the work
of Hammershøi to that of the Nabis artists, Pierre Bonnard and Eduoard
Vuillard, will be revealing. Both
Bonnard and Vuillard came to their artistic maturities at about the same time
as Hammershøi and were also best known for depicting intimate scenes of home
life.
An initial glance reveals
most blatantly that the Nabis were participants in the modernist revolution in
art. These French artists, living at the
hub of the European art world, were aware of all the current trends and
innovations in modern art: Impressionism, Pointillism and Symbolism. Technically, they were freed up to use paint
however their need dictated, from thin transparent glazes to thick, mortar-like
impasto. They used a heightened palette
and did not employ color naturalistically.
Hammershøi applied paint using time-proven, conservative techniques, and
his palette is extremely restrained.
Compositionally,
the Nabis present an explosion of activity, people, objects, patterns,
reflections and flickering light filling their canvases – at times actually
spilling out of the picture plane leaving figures strangely cropped as one
might find in an unstaged snapshot.
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| Pierre Bonnard - Lunch at Le Grand Lamps - 1899 |
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| Pierre Bonnard - The Luncheon - 1899 |
Hammershøi’s scenes are
carefully constructed, the figure usually placed nearly centrally, a rigid
symmetry prevailing and a sense of balance achieved.
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Rest - date unavailable |
The light in Bonnard’s and
Vuillard’s paintings is warm and golden, essentially Mediterranean. It bursts into a house, filling rooms with a
cheerful glow. Often the windows are
cast open, inviting inside the outdoor light retaining the tones of gardens,
trees and lawns.
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| Eduoard Vuillard - The End of Breakfast with Madame Vuillard - 1895 |
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| Pierre Bonnard - Woman with Cat - 1947 |
A cool northern light
illuminates Hammershøi’s scenes, feebly casting a pattern on the floor, filling
the panes of a distant window or catching a swarm of dust particles swirling in
its rays. Hammershøi’s windows are
always shut.
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Dust Motes Dancing in Sunlight - 1900 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Open Doors - 1905 |
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Sunshine in the Drawing Room III - 1903 |
The Nabis inhabit a social
world. Friends and family members
meander into their paintings to enjoy some conversation, tend to a child’s
needs, share a meal, play an instrument or simply read a newspaper. Tables are generously laid with colorful
foods, polished crockery, sparkling glasses and patterned tablecloths. In the rare instances when an individual is
presented alone, he or she is commonly accompanied by a family pet. There is a sense of the moment in these
works… a deceptive feeling that the artist almost arbitrarily caught his
subjects in mid-movement… that we have been privileged to catch a brief glimpse
of the intimate family life of the artist.
These paintings are filled with noise.
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| Eduoard Vuillard - Family Lunch - 1899 |
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| Eduoard Vuillard - Breakfast at Villerville - 1910 |
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| Pierre Bonnard - Convocation - date unavailable |
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| Pierre Bonnard - The Red Checkered Tablecloth - 1910 |
Hammershøi was a reserved,
contemplative man. Those intellectuals
who chose to visit him found him shy and reluctant to converse. His world was fairly restricted – defined by
his economic status and the places in which he lived. His social outlets were limited to a few
close colleagues and family. The walls
in his homes are unpapered and unpatterned, and the furniture is of dark wood,
carefully dusted and polished. There is
no sense of spontaneity in his paintings; every object included has been
carefully chosen and positioned according to the demands of composition. Commonly, Hammershøi’s interiors are
inhabited by figures, almost exclusively alone and usually female. These women are sometimes engaged in quiet
activity: carrying a platter, sitting at a spinet or reading a book. Just as commonly, they do nothing at all. Their world is undisturbed by visitors. Their days are not filled with demanding
chores and physical exertion. Their
homes are not filled with the sound of babies crying, animated conversation,
animals mewing and barking, the laughter of children and the clatter of
utensils on dishes. All is still and
quiet. All activity is internal.
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| Vilhelm Hammershoi - Interior with Ida Playing the Piano - 1910 |
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| Vilhem Hammershoi - Interior with Young Woman from Behind - 1904 |
And, of course, the most
striking thing about these paintings is that the figure is most often turned
away from the viewer. This creates a
strange paradox for us. These images
depict intimate scenes of the artist’s home life. His model is usually his wife or a close
relation, and yet she is presented anonymously, almost serving purely as a
compositional element. Depending upon
personal predilections, desires and associations, the viewer is permitted to
assert the features of his or her own choosing on the model. The woman becomes universal for us, but is
this legitimate? The question becomes:
how is identity established? For centuries,
the answer would have been through the unique facial features of the
individual. Often a portrait artist would
have his subject sit for the painting of the head and use a stand-in model
appropriately attired to pose for the body.
Hammershøi challenges the accepted notion of what establishes identity –
which seems to me a very modern conundrum.
If the face is used to determine identity, then how does one evaluate
the individual disfigured by injury or enhanced by cosmetic surgery? Would the coloration, texture and style of an
individual’s hair or the telltale turn of the waist be just as legitimate? Perhaps, the map of an individual’s DNA would
provide the definitive portrait.
Some critics have disparaged
Hammershøi’s efforts because his oeuvre appears to be relatively unaffected by
developments made by the contemporary avante garde. After all, Hammershøi’s life spans one of
the most volatile and fertile periods in the history of art, beginning in the
age of Impressionism and ending with Cubism firmly established as the
predominant language of modern art. Was
Hammershøi’s choice not to participate in the fray of the modernist revolution
indicative of some deficiency in his character – perhaps a weakness of will or
conservative immutability? I don’t think
so. The greatest challenge facing any
artist in making art significant to his audience is finding a language most apt
for communicating his or her personal vision.
Hammershøi accomplished this.
During his lifetime, his work was admired and praised by members of the
avante garde. And even today, a century
after his death, Hammershøi’s reputation is waxing, his paintings more
marketable than ever and exhibitions of his work becoming more common, even in
museums and galleries committed to presenting modern and contemporary art.
Painting Tranquility: Masterworks by Vilhelm
Hammershøi from SMK – The National Gallery of Denmark will be showing at Scandinavia House through
February 27th, 2016.
Scandinavia House is located at 58 Park Avenue, New York,
NY 10016
(between East 37th and 38th Streets). The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday
12-6 PM and Wednesday 12-7 PM.
As always I encourage
readers to comment here, but, if you would prefer to do so privately, you can
email me at gerardwickham@gmail.com.
Endnote: I wrote this entry
prior to the opening of the show at Scandinavia House. Yesterday evening after work, I finally
hoofed it down to 38th
Street to see the exhibit. Scandinavia House’s exhibition space is
relatively modest, so I never expect to see an extensive collection of work
there. The first room was devoted mainly
to early portraiture, the second to mature figures studies and interior spaces
and the last to landscapes and architectural studies. And, by the way, if you should visit the
exhibition, be sure not to overlook a small side room off the main exhibition
space that appears to be more of a coat closet or storage space but actually
offers a video presentation on Hammershøi’s life and work. I was surprised to discover that “process”,
something that I look for in any artwork, was very evident in many of the
paintings; the few paintings of his that I’ve previously seen “live” were a lot
more polished. I was also pleased to
find that I had never seen a lot of work included in the show – even in
reproduction. My only criticism of the
exhibition is that none of Hammershøi’s “signature” work was on display.
