L. A. Ring (b. Ring 1854, d. Roskilde 1933)
“Sex Portræter af Herman A. Kählers børn”. Six portraits of the potter Herman A. Kähler's children. Unsigned. Oil on panel relaid on canvas. 30×53 cm. Period frame.
H. Chr. Christensen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of L. A. Ring no. 401.
Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, “Fortegnelse over Malerier og Studier af L. A. Ring 1880–1910”, 1953 no. 40. Nivaagaards Malerisamling, “Symbolismen i Dansk Kunst”, 1993 no. 72, reproduced plate XV. Ordrupgaard, “L. A. Ring 1854–1934”, no. 61, reproduced p. 73. Statens Museum for Kunst (The Danish National Gallery) and Randers Kunstmuseum, “På kanten af verden”, 2006–2007 no. 43, reproduced p. 234.
Literature: Peter Hertz, “L. A. Ring”, 1934 p. 312. Cai M. Woel, “L. A. Ring”, 1937 p. 24, reproduced p. 24.
Provenance: Potter Herman A. Kähler and Jansine Kähler (1898). Their son Herman Hans Christian Kähler. Karen (later Karen Poul Petersen) and medical doctor E. K. Ebbesen, Næstved (1953). Karen Poul Petersen.
The present painting was a silver wedding gift for L. A. Ring's father- and mother-in law Herman H. Kähler and Jansine Kähler in 1898. The girl to the left is the eldest child Sigrid (1874), then Herman Hans Christian (1876), Hedevig (1878), Ebba (1880), Elisabeth (1882) and Stella (1886).
The painting is an unusual work in Ring's oeuvre.
Peter Nørgaard Larsen comments in “L. A. Ring. På kanten af verden”, 2006 p. 234 (in Danish): “The use of the golden background, the remarkable and strange organization of the heads in profile and the ornamental way of painting the trunks, branches and leaves makes this painting one of the most radical in the Danish Symbolism at that time.”
The solid trunks symbolize the parents, whose arms (branches) twine over the children, the future of the family.
Please note: The item is subject to the Anti-Money Laundering Act. In the event of a hammer price of DKK 50,000 or more, including buyer’s premium, the buyer must submit a copy of a valid photo ID and proof of address in order to collect the item.
Selected art, 28 November 2011