DOI Heft:
No. 42 (September, 1896)
DOI Artikel:Hammer, K. V.: Gerhard Munthe, decorative artist
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17297#0240
Gerhard Munthe
which", is national and traditional. He has on ' tradition ' depends on the degree in which it can
several occasions publicly stated his views upon be assimilated. Tradition is, therefore, not what
tradition, and I cannot do better than quote the many believe it to be—viz., ancient romance or
following passage from an article written by him : history. The first condition demanded of a nation
" Each nation must be regarded as an in- by tradition is that it can be, as it were, digested by
dividual whose talents are of a distinct stamp, it, absorbed by it, and tradition therefore depends
The nation has, like the individual, its own pre- largely upon the developing power of the nation
dispositions and its own likings, just as also it itself."
possesses its own train of ideas. Each nation From his views of the importance of nationalism
naturally feeds on spiritual nourishment from with- and tradition Munthe has developed his decorative
out, and, according to its temperament, derives art. He has studied carved work and sculpture in
good from it or otherwise. To what extent any- old churches and dwellings, the old poetry of the
thing may become incorporated in the nation as Sagas, folklore and melodies, the old art of
tapestry, the floral painting of the
peasantry and everything connected
with the art of that portion of the
population, its nucleus and its regene-
rative powers up to the present day.
In this way he has initiated him-
self into the very world of Norwegian
ideas; "and it is," he says, "indi-
vidual and simple as a book printed
in large type." This peculiar world
of thought and tradition may be traced
back for ages, and, notwithstanding its
decadence of late years, it is still to
the fore, despite all foreign influence.
Munthe is of opinion that one can-
not advance in art by merely thought-
lessly copying traditional colours and
designs. One must become imbued
with the spirit and meaning conveyed
or transmitted by tradition ; one must
live, in fact, in its way of thinking and
its world of fantasy. In this, however,
one enters into regions where realism
never penetrates ; into a period which
lies even more remote than that of
legendary tales—a time which takes
one back to our old myths and the
gods in Valhalla—that is, the period
g^SqiF ^^in^^l^j^^, 5"portrayed in our oldest war songs and
in the ages of the Sagas, a period
rendered weird and horrible by blood
and darkness.
Munthe occasionally, it is true, peeps
into the world of childish fancy, but
that is, however, beyond the pale of
those old conceptions in which he
prefers to roam. All that he produces
is original yet deeply impregnated
with Norse ideas and feelings. In his
design for tapestry, "the tower of blood " decorative labours he has, with but
by gerhard munthe few exceptions, devoted his attention
which", is national and traditional. He has on ' tradition ' depends on the degree in which it can
several occasions publicly stated his views upon be assimilated. Tradition is, therefore, not what
tradition, and I cannot do better than quote the many believe it to be—viz., ancient romance or
following passage from an article written by him : history. The first condition demanded of a nation
" Each nation must be regarded as an in- by tradition is that it can be, as it were, digested by
dividual whose talents are of a distinct stamp, it, absorbed by it, and tradition therefore depends
The nation has, like the individual, its own pre- largely upon the developing power of the nation
dispositions and its own likings, just as also it itself."
possesses its own train of ideas. Each nation From his views of the importance of nationalism
naturally feeds on spiritual nourishment from with- and tradition Munthe has developed his decorative
out, and, according to its temperament, derives art. He has studied carved work and sculpture in
good from it or otherwise. To what extent any- old churches and dwellings, the old poetry of the
thing may become incorporated in the nation as Sagas, folklore and melodies, the old art of
tapestry, the floral painting of the
peasantry and everything connected
with the art of that portion of the
population, its nucleus and its regene-
rative powers up to the present day.
In this way he has initiated him-
self into the very world of Norwegian
ideas; "and it is," he says, "indi-
vidual and simple as a book printed
in large type." This peculiar world
of thought and tradition may be traced
back for ages, and, notwithstanding its
decadence of late years, it is still to
the fore, despite all foreign influence.
Munthe is of opinion that one can-
not advance in art by merely thought-
lessly copying traditional colours and
designs. One must become imbued
with the spirit and meaning conveyed
or transmitted by tradition ; one must
live, in fact, in its way of thinking and
its world of fantasy. In this, however,
one enters into regions where realism
never penetrates ; into a period which
lies even more remote than that of
legendary tales—a time which takes
one back to our old myths and the
gods in Valhalla—that is, the period
g^SqiF ^^in^^l^j^^, 5"portrayed in our oldest war songs and
in the ages of the Sagas, a period
rendered weird and horrible by blood
and darkness.
Munthe occasionally, it is true, peeps
into the world of childish fancy, but
that is, however, beyond the pale of
those old conceptions in which he
prefers to roam. All that he produces
is original yet deeply impregnated
with Norse ideas and feelings. In his
design for tapestry, "the tower of blood " decorative labours he has, with but
by gerhard munthe few exceptions, devoted his attention