The Norwegian artist Christian Krohg (1852-1925) is one of his country's most important 19th-century painters, who is widely recognised as a pioneer of social realism. What stands out about his art today is the way in which he experimented with the rules of perspective by trimming the outer edges of his composition whilst also enlarging some central element within it. This would allow the painting to appear in as "natural" way as possible: movement and detail would be captured as if the painting were functioning as a human eye.
Our present work is a fine example of Krohg's abilities. It shows a climbing barley plant growing along the front of a building, with the viewer (presumably) situated inside the house and looking through a window out into the countryside beyond. Adjacent to the climbing plant is the side of the house, with a window clearly visible amidst the white timbered façade of the wall. Krohg has painted the side of the house at a sharp angle to our vantage point with the stalks and leaves of the barley plant functioning as a visual obstacle.
A muddy path leads out into the distance past a gate. At the back of the composition the edge of woodland is marked by a dense frontage of trees. By using a light palette, with white and dewy green as particularly" fresh" colours, the whole scene assumes an air of quiet and reflection. Krohg has deliberately left the viewer's position unclear: are we standing inside the house or somewhere alongside it? Although the painting is not dated it does fit in with other compositions made from the 1880s onwards, in which severe cropping of the image produces a sense of abruptness [1].
Christian Krohg was born in 1852 in a prosperous family and grew up near Christiania, present-day Oslo. In 1837 he spent a year studying at the Academy in Karlsruhe, Germany, where he was taught by Hans Gude and Karl Gussow. During 1875-80 he lived in Berlin where he met Adolph Menzel and got to know the work of the German impressionist Max Liebermann, It would not be unreasonable to suggest that Menzel's art exercised considerable influence on Krohg's own thinking. The fluency and ease with which Menzel could draw wholly surprising compositions was something that must have appealed greatly to him.
Krogh returned to Norway in 1882 and soon made a name for himself as a socially engaged artist and author. His novel, Albertine (1886), about the fate of a young woman forced into prostitution through destitution, created a wave of scandal and sensation. Krohg often turned to the lot of the lower orders as a subject matter for his paintings. In 1909 he was appointed Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, where he was tutor to a young Edvard Munch.
__________________________________
1. Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Christian Krohg. Fra Paris til Kristiania, exh.cat., Oslo 2012, pp. 18.96.
Our present work is a fine example of Krohg's abilities. It shows a climbing barley plant growing along the front of a building, with the viewer (presumably) situated inside the house and looking through a window out into the countryside beyond. Adjacent to the climbing plant is the side of the house, with a window clearly visible amidst the white timbered façade of the wall. Krohg has painted the side of the house at a sharp angle to our vantage point with the stalks and leaves of the barley plant functioning as a visual obstacle.
A muddy path leads out into the distance past a gate. At the back of the composition the edge of woodland is marked by a dense frontage of trees. By using a light palette, with white and dewy green as particularly" fresh" colours, the whole scene assumes an air of quiet and reflection. Krohg has deliberately left the viewer's position unclear: are we standing inside the house or somewhere alongside it? Although the painting is not dated it does fit in with other compositions made from the 1880s onwards, in which severe cropping of the image produces a sense of abruptness [1].
Christian Krohg was born in 1852 in a prosperous family and grew up near Christiania, present-day Oslo. In 1837 he spent a year studying at the Academy in Karlsruhe, Germany, where he was taught by Hans Gude and Karl Gussow. During 1875-80 he lived in Berlin where he met Adolph Menzel and got to know the work of the German impressionist Max Liebermann, It would not be unreasonable to suggest that Menzel's art exercised considerable influence on Krohg's own thinking. The fluency and ease with which Menzel could draw wholly surprising compositions was something that must have appealed greatly to him.
Krogh returned to Norway in 1882 and soon made a name for himself as a socially engaged artist and author. His novel, Albertine (1886), about the fate of a young woman forced into prostitution through destitution, created a wave of scandal and sensation. Krohg often turned to the lot of the lower orders as a subject matter for his paintings. In 1909 he was appointed Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, where he was tutor to a young Edvard Munch.
__________________________________
1. Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Christian Krohg. Fra Paris til Kristiania, exh.cat., Oslo 2012, pp. 18.96.
The climbing plant, c. 1880
Signed lower right: C.K.
Oil on canvas
36,5 x 30,5 cm
Provenance
Private collection, Norway
The Norwegian artist Christian Krohg (1852-1925) is one of his country's most important 19th-century painters, who is widely recognised as a pioneer of social realism. What stands out about his art today is the way in which he experimented with the rules of perspective by trimming the outer edges of his composition whilst also enlarging some central element within it. This would allow the painting to appear in as "natural" way as possible: movement and detail would be captured as if the painting were functioning as a human eye.
Our present work is a fine example of Krohg's abilities. It shows a climbing barley plant growing along the front of a building, with the viewer (presumably) situated inside the house and looking through a window out into the countryside beyond. Adjacent to the climbing plant is the side of the house, with a window clearly visible amidst the white timbered façade of the wall. Krohg has painted the side of the house at a sharp angle to our vantage point with the stalks and leaves of the barley plant functioning as a visual obstacle.
A muddy path leads out into the distance past a gate. At the back of the composition the edge of woodland is marked by a dense frontage of trees. By using a light palette, with white and dewy green as particularly" fresh" colours, the whole scene assumes an air of quiet and reflection. Krohg has deliberately left the viewer's position unclear: are we standing inside the house or somewhere alongside it? Although the painting is not dated it does fit in with other compositions made from the 1880s onwards, in which severe cropping of the image produces a sense of abruptness [1].
Christian Krohg was born in 1852 in a prosperous family and grew up near Christiania, present-day Oslo. In 1837 he spent a year studying at the Academy in Karlsruhe, Germany, where he was taught by Hans Gude and Karl Gussow. During 1875-80 he lived in Berlin where he met Adolph Menzel and got to know the work of the German impressionist Max Liebermann, It would not be unreasonable to suggest that Menzel's art exercised considerable influence on Krohg's own thinking. The fluency and ease with which Menzel could draw wholly surprising compositions was something that must have appealed greatly to him.
Krogh returned to Norway in 1882 and soon made a name for himself as a socially engaged artist and author. His novel, Albertine (1886), about the fate of a young woman forced into prostitution through destitution, created a wave of scandal and sensation. Krohg often turned to the lot of the lower orders as a subject matter for his paintings. In 1909 he was appointed Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, where he was tutor to a young Edvard Munch.
__________________________________
1. Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Christian Krohg. Fra Paris til Kristiania, exh.cat., Oslo 2012, pp. 18.96.
Our present work is a fine example of Krohg's abilities. It shows a climbing barley plant growing along the front of a building, with the viewer (presumably) situated inside the house and looking through a window out into the countryside beyond. Adjacent to the climbing plant is the side of the house, with a window clearly visible amidst the white timbered façade of the wall. Krohg has painted the side of the house at a sharp angle to our vantage point with the stalks and leaves of the barley plant functioning as a visual obstacle.
A muddy path leads out into the distance past a gate. At the back of the composition the edge of woodland is marked by a dense frontage of trees. By using a light palette, with white and dewy green as particularly" fresh" colours, the whole scene assumes an air of quiet and reflection. Krohg has deliberately left the viewer's position unclear: are we standing inside the house or somewhere alongside it? Although the painting is not dated it does fit in with other compositions made from the 1880s onwards, in which severe cropping of the image produces a sense of abruptness [1].
Christian Krohg was born in 1852 in a prosperous family and grew up near Christiania, present-day Oslo. In 1837 he spent a year studying at the Academy in Karlsruhe, Germany, where he was taught by Hans Gude and Karl Gussow. During 1875-80 he lived in Berlin where he met Adolph Menzel and got to know the work of the German impressionist Max Liebermann, It would not be unreasonable to suggest that Menzel's art exercised considerable influence on Krohg's own thinking. The fluency and ease with which Menzel could draw wholly surprising compositions was something that must have appealed greatly to him.
Krogh returned to Norway in 1882 and soon made a name for himself as a socially engaged artist and author. His novel, Albertine (1886), about the fate of a young woman forced into prostitution through destitution, created a wave of scandal and sensation. Krohg often turned to the lot of the lower orders as a subject matter for his paintings. In 1909 he was appointed Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, where he was tutor to a young Edvard Munch.
__________________________________
1. Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Christian Krohg. Fra Paris til Kristiania, exh.cat., Oslo 2012, pp. 18.96.
Previous
|
Next
1
of 1