This exhibition at Scandinavia House in New York City will feature 49 Romantic landscape paintings by 13 of the period’s most prominent artists. Experience this free exhibition from late September through January 2009.
With works from this large and diverse group of artists, including Knud Baade, Peder Balke, Alexandre Calame, Johan Christian Dahl, François Diday, Christian Due, Thomas Fearnley, Joachim Frich, Barthélemy Menn, Johann Gottfried Steffan, Wolfgang-Adam Töpffer, Caspar Wolf, and Robert Zünd, the exhibition will shed light on the political and historical parallels that emerged from the similarity of natural conditions, providing the rich context for the painters of the Romantic movement.
In Norway, J.C. Dahl, Thomas Fearnley and Peder Balke were among the most important painters of the 19th Century, depicting in their paintings the beauty of rugged mountains, glaciers, fjords, and waterfalls. Their counterparts in Switzerland included such masters as Alexandre Calame and François Diday, whose dramatic views of the Swiss countryside were widely known. These artists sought to capture the mood of a scene, often using brilliant displays of light and shadow to heighten the natural drama.
Among the most celebrated artists of this period, the painters included in this exhibition depicted the mountainous landscapes as wild and perilous (to be tamed by individuals of great strength and character.) This view of untamed nature, so central in European Romanticism, was in stark contrast to more idyllic representations popular at the time in Italy. The portrayal was key in its development of a national identity in the two nations.
This exhibition is drawn from the extensive collection of Asbjørn Lunde and curated by Knut Ljøgodt and Anne Aeserud of the Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum (Art Museum of Northern Norway) in Tromsø where it was first shown to great acclaim in 2007.
Support for this exhibition has been provided by StatoilHydro ASA, Tor Arneberg and an anonymous gift.
Patricia Berman, Professor of Art at Wellesley College, will give a lecture on October 1 at 6:30 pm.
When: September 26 through January 10.
Where: Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, NYC.
Info: (212) 879-9779 or www.scandinaviahouse.org