DOI issue:
No. 191 (January, 1913)
DOI article:Brinton, Christian: The progressive spirit in Scandinavian painting
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43451#0423
Scandinavian Art
Collection of Mr. Carl Nisser, Broby
ON THE FROZEN SNOW
BY GUNNAR HALLSTROM
that, while Sweden has been reasonably well rep-
resented in America, the art of Denmark and
Norway has been chiefly conspicuous by its long-
continued absence. The reasons for this are
better known to the countries themselves, for the
occasions when they have appeared together in
full force have been indeed rare and far between,
the recent International Exhibition in Rome, and
the present instance being notable exceptions.
Considering its necessarily limited scope, the cur-
rent display of Scandinavian art is beyond ques-
tion the most significant ever held. The selection
has been frankly confined to the work of living
men only, and, in as far as possible, the choice of
artists has been conducted on eclectic as well as
stimulatingly progressive lines. The canvases are,
however, in numerous instances something more
than the work of merely living men; they are not
infrequently the work of men who will continue to
rank for many years to come as the veritable found-
ers of latter-day Scandinavian painting. It is not
in any sense claimed that the exhibition is an
ideal one; those who have been more or less
closely connected with it from the outset best
recognize its faults and shortcomings, but it may
fairly be stated that it represents the artistic
activity of the three countries as it obtains at the
present moment. And apropos of this may be
mentioned one cardinal point of difference be-
tween the present undertaking and all of its
predecessors, either here or abroad, and that is
that it is the first exhibition of its kind to show, as
it were, art in the making. Those responsible for
previous displays have been distinctly more cau-
tious in their choice of men and of canvases.
They have as a rule taken only those names which
were hallowed by precedent and backed by the
weight of official dignity and prestige. It would
have been a simple matter to have done the same
sort of thing in the current case. One is always
safe in selecting popular and well-established
figures; the possibility of committing mistakes of
judgment is thus reduced to a minimum, but,
conversely, the chances for the d'scovery of new
and virile talents virtually disappear. To have
been ultra-conservative would, moreover, in this
instance have been flatly untrue to existent condi-
tions in Scandinavia. The art of these nations is
the youngest, in point of actual date, in all Europe.
It is but a scant century since either Sweden, Den-
mark or Norway, boasted what may be described
as a native school, and to have exhibited the pro-
duction of the older and essentially derivative
painters would have been a work of pure super-
LIX
Collection of Mr. Carl Nisser, Broby
ON THE FROZEN SNOW
BY GUNNAR HALLSTROM
that, while Sweden has been reasonably well rep-
resented in America, the art of Denmark and
Norway has been chiefly conspicuous by its long-
continued absence. The reasons for this are
better known to the countries themselves, for the
occasions when they have appeared together in
full force have been indeed rare and far between,
the recent International Exhibition in Rome, and
the present instance being notable exceptions.
Considering its necessarily limited scope, the cur-
rent display of Scandinavian art is beyond ques-
tion the most significant ever held. The selection
has been frankly confined to the work of living
men only, and, in as far as possible, the choice of
artists has been conducted on eclectic as well as
stimulatingly progressive lines. The canvases are,
however, in numerous instances something more
than the work of merely living men; they are not
infrequently the work of men who will continue to
rank for many years to come as the veritable found-
ers of latter-day Scandinavian painting. It is not
in any sense claimed that the exhibition is an
ideal one; those who have been more or less
closely connected with it from the outset best
recognize its faults and shortcomings, but it may
fairly be stated that it represents the artistic
activity of the three countries as it obtains at the
present moment. And apropos of this may be
mentioned one cardinal point of difference be-
tween the present undertaking and all of its
predecessors, either here or abroad, and that is
that it is the first exhibition of its kind to show, as
it were, art in the making. Those responsible for
previous displays have been distinctly more cau-
tious in their choice of men and of canvases.
They have as a rule taken only those names which
were hallowed by precedent and backed by the
weight of official dignity and prestige. It would
have been a simple matter to have done the same
sort of thing in the current case. One is always
safe in selecting popular and well-established
figures; the possibility of committing mistakes of
judgment is thus reduced to a minimum, but,
conversely, the chances for the d'scovery of new
and virile talents virtually disappear. To have
been ultra-conservative would, moreover, in this
instance have been flatly untrue to existent condi-
tions in Scandinavia. The art of these nations is
the youngest, in point of actual date, in all Europe.
It is but a scant century since either Sweden, Den-
mark or Norway, boasted what may be described
as a native school, and to have exhibited the pro-
duction of the older and essentially derivative
painters would have been a work of pure super-
LIX