G. F. Clement (b. Frederiksberg 1867, d. Copenhagen 1933)
“Dekorativt billede. Den Hellige Frans' Vision med de Tre Hvide Jomfruer”. Decorative picture. The Vision of Saint Francis with the Three White Virgins. 1892. Signed F. Clement. Pastel on paper laid on canvas. 161×110 cm.
Exhibited: Den Frie Udstilling 1893 no. 6. Randers Kunstmuseum, “HJÆLP! Jeg er samler”, 1994 no. 699. The National Gallery of Denmark, “Sjælebilleder. Symbolismen i dansk og europæisk maleri 1870–1910”, 2000, cat. no. 77, ill. p. 135. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, “Impressionismen och Norden: det sena 1800-talets franska avantgardekonst och konsten i Norden 1870–1920”, 2002–2003, cat. no. 36, ill. p. 184. Ordrupgaard, “Gauguin og hans venner”, 2022, cat. no. 91, mentioned p. 160 and ill. p. 161.
Literature: Henrik Wivel, “Ny Dansk Kunsthistorie”, vol. 5: “Symbolisme og impressionisme”, 1994, mentioned and ill. p. 47. Peter Nørgaard Larsen, “Skønhedens profeter”, pp. 115–145 in “Sjælebilleder. Symbolismen i dansk og europæisk maleri 1870–1910”, 2000, mentioned pp. 135–136, p. 138, p. 191 and p. 306, ill. p. 135. “Impressionismen og Norden. Fransk avantgarde i det sene 1800-tal og kunsten i Norden 1870–1920”, The National Gallery of Denmark, 2003, mentioned and ill. p. 184.
Provenance: Royal chapel musician Frits Bendix (1893). The collection of Birte Inge Christensen and John Hunov.
In 1893, Clement makes his debut at Den Frie with this highly original work from his relatively short period as a 'Nabi'. It is at the same exhibition that Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) exhibits 29 works and Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) 50 works. An exhibition which ends up being ground-breaking for the development of Danish Modernism. In 1888, the French artist group Les Nabis was established in Paris. The inspiration for the group and its forerunner was Paul Gauguin, who a few years earlier had moved away from Paris and out to Brittany in Western France, where he settled in Pont-Aven, among other places. Here he believed he would find something more primitive, wild and authentic, which could inspire him to create a new artistic idiom in clear opposition to Naturalism. Gauguin called this new artistic idiom Synthetism. “For the Nabis, art eventually became the only place where God's existence could be experienced and recognized. The medium was Synthetism, or Suggestive Decoration, as Gauguin described the efforts of the Nabis. Swirling arabesques, decorative lines and strong colours unite into harmonious, organic external forms that reflect the inner wealth and a deep religious feeling.” (Peter Nørgaard Larsen in ”Sjælebilleder" p. 115).
Les Nabis followed Gauguin to Brittany in the late 1880s and further developed his ideas and artistic idiom, inspired by Catholicism as expressed through the piety of the local inhabitants, the idioms of the Late Medieval Period and Early Renaissance, Japanese woodcuts and the literature and poetry of Symbolism. They saw themselves as deeply religious and visionary – hence the name 'Les Nabis' – the prophets.
Mogens Ballin (1871–1914) was the first Danish Nabi. He was in Paris in 1891, where he attended Gauguin's farewell party before he left on his first trip to Tahiti – Ballin was actually one of the artists who accompanied Gauguin all the way to the train.
That same summer, Gad F. Clement travelled to Brittany together with Mogens Ballin to find inspiration with the French Nabis – it was on this trip that Clement painted “Et Gårdinteriør, Bretagne” (A Court Interior, Brittany), see cat. no. 956, and it is here in the early 90s that Clement developed his synthesizing idiom. Clement became the mouthpiece of the Danish Nabis, and his and Mogens Ballin's joint studio became the gathering place for the movement in Denmark.
“The main piece from these years, and the painting that helped give the artist a clear profile at the debut exhibition in 1893, “Decorative Image, The Vision of St. Francis with the Three White Virgins”, shows how Clement was not only the oratorical herald of the Nabis’ art but was also able to artistically summarize and condense the movement's formalistic principles and thematic core motifs.” (Peter Nørgaard Larsen in “Sjælebilleder” pp. 135–136).
The reason for Paul Gauguin's great artistic influence on several Danish artists should also be seen in the light of the fact that he married the Danish woman Mette Gad (1850–1920) in 1873, and that he lived in Denmark for six months in 1884. Mette Gad had a large collection of his works and other French art, which she put on display and sold at the 1893 exhibition at Den Frie, among other places. Through her large network of French and Danish artists, Mette Gad became very important to the Danish Nabis, for instance, she gave Mogens Ballin a letter of introduction to Paul Gauguin when he travelled to Paris for the first time in 1889.
It is thus no coincidence that Clement debuts with a major work within Danish Syntheticism at the same exhibition where van Gogh and Gauguin have works on display.
In the year 1900, Les Nabis held their last exhibition in Paris. The group's strong affiliation with Catholicism meant that it developed over time into a personal religious crusade of a few people, “which probably contributed to several lesser inspired artists such as Ludvig Find and Gad F. Clement quickly seeking out other more down-to-earth approaches to art and ended up where many French Synthetist artists had also oriented themselves, namely towards late Impressionist interior and portrait painting, as it is known from Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard.” (Peter Nørgaard Larsen in ”Sjælebilleder" p. 130) But here in the early 1890s, Clement was something as rare as a full-blown Danish Nabi.
The National Gallery of Denmark has a slightly later executed oil painting with almost the same motif (Inv. No. KMS8574).
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Paintings, drawings and icons, 14 June 2023