Mud, Modernity and Melancholia
With 13 works at the Live Auction this autumn, we are highlighting the artist Laurits Andersen (L.A.) Ring as a singular painter in Danish art history. Ring was an artist at a time when Denmark was evolving from an agricultural society into a modern, industrialised country, and this is evident in his art.
It is no secret that L.A. Ring’s (1854–1933) soulful landscapes and characteristic portrayals of people have garnered international attention in recent years. Both the National Gallery in London and the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio have acquired works for their collections, and the “L.A. Ring – On the Edge of the World” exhibition has been shown at the Bruce Museum in Connecticut and The National Nordic Museum in Seattle in 2020.
Ring’s journey towards becoming an internationally coveted artist has also been felt at our auctions, and a large selection of his works at this auction takes us to snow-covered villages, poetic landscapes and portraits of the people from the area where the artist lived in Mogenstrup and Lille Næstved in southern Zealand. No one can quite match Ring in his depiction of a rutted road turned into mud and mire as the warmth of early spring melts away the snow.
A Symbolist Aesthetic, Soulful Interpretations and New Perspectives
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In an interior from 1891, we meet an elderly woman concentrating on her knitting. The composition is surprisingly dynamic, as the woman’s position in the right-hand corner and the furniture thrust the lines of perspective uneasily into the cramped living room. The same compositional effect is used in another work up for auction “Brøndgade i sne. Sankt Jørgensbjerg” from 1929, where the lines of the road, houses and telegraph lines meet in a cross-field in the middle, forming a highly dramatic, almost cacophonous perspective in the depiction of an otherwise silent village. |
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Although Ring’s works are based on actual places and, at first glance, rooted in realism, he always adds another layer to his works – a kind of symbolist aesthetic that inevitably opens up to soulful interpretations and new perspectives. Artistically, Ring had one foot firmly planted on the ground and the other in the midst of the social change associated with modernity. His focal point was the existential challenges faced by humanity at this time of upheaval. He imbued his works with something unfathomable – something almost metaphysical – elevating him above the art of his day and making him ahead of his time. |
About Ring
Ring was born in 1854 in the village of Ring in southern Zealand. His mother came from a family of smallholders and his father was a carpenter. He grew up in a traditional rural artisan environment, and throughout his life he maintained both a personal and artistic affiliation with the country folk, whom he portrayed unsentimentally and with deep solidarity. He recreated landscapes, interiors and atmospheres from modest homesteads and workshops where age-old crafts were still practised – places where the traditional way of life was threatened by industrialisation and modern life. Ring knew these people and this environment intimately. He was one of them – and yet also set apart.
In 1875, Ring was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, but never completed his studies. In 1880, he changed his name from Laurits Andersen to Laurits Andersen Ring, after his birthplace, and, after several unsuccessful attempts, he had a painting accepted at Charlottenborg in 1882. In 1886, he was tutored for a brief period by P.S. Krøyer at De frie Studieskoler (“The Artists’ Free Study Schools”).
Melancholia and Modern Thinking
Ring was plagued by severe mood swings throughout his life. He struggled with love, his art, money and the meaning of life. It was the time of the Modern Breakthrough, and he was heavily preoccupied with the ideas of the day in the intellectual circles surrounding Georg Brandes, Henrik Pontoppidan and I.P. Jacobsen. In 1896, he married Sigrid Kähler, daughter of the ceramicist Herman Kähler. Family life curbed Ring’s depressive and melancholy moods, and the main work “I havedøren. Kunstnerens hustru” (In the garden door. The artist’s wife) from 1897 shows a new, brighter side to Ring’s art. The painting “Ved åens udløb. Karrebæksminde” (At the mouth of the stream. Karrebæksminde), which is up for auction, is from the same year. This work also clearly shows how his palette has changed after meeting Sigrid and finding love – it almost radiates light from within, and the white seed heads of the dandelions are battling to outshine one another, illuminating the foreground like small sconces.
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Towards the turn of the century, Ring had achieved a significant role in the art scene of his day – his works were exhibited both at home and abroad, he became a member of the Academy Council and was on the panel of judges at Charlottenborg. |
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Video: The Colourist and Dustbowl Punker Laurits Andersen Ring
Our Head of Fine Art, Julie Voss, has joined forces with Doctor of Philosophy Henrik Wivel, author of the biography on Laurits Andersen Ring entitled "The Limpid Heart". Together, they discuss the 13 works by Ring from our upcoming auction in Copenhagen.
For further information, please contact:
Julie Arendse Voss: +45 8818 1123 · jav@bruun-rasmussen.dk
Birte Stokholm: +45 8818 1122 · bst@bruun-rasmussen.dk
Søren Kjerk Holmstrup: +45 8818 1127 · skh@bruun-rasmussen.dk